Scripture: Ruth 2

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
2 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.” 3 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.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 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.”
8 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. 9 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.”
10 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?”
11 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. 12 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.”
13 “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.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Observation: This series is about social justice, let’s first define what that actually means. Let’s look at Websters definition

1. “The fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice.
2. The distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society
3. Wikipedia suggests that ‘Social Justice’ originated as a religious term to acknowledge the collective nature of humanity, and our personal commitment to helping other humans

As we look at this chapter, we can see several examples of these definitions in action. First, Boaz learned who Ruth was and did not turn her away because she was a foreigner. He approached her and gave her full rights, and possibly more rights than his own servants. He even instructed protection for her and for the men to intentionally leave grain for her to gleen from the fields, just to ensure she had plenty. I think we can see a couple lessons here. First God is showing us His heart on how we should treat others around us. Second, I think we are getting a glimpse of things to come, such as God extending His salvation and grace even to the gentiles, such as was the case with Ruth.

Application: God’s heart is clear, treat each other well. “love your neighbor as yourself”. It is so easy to look at the less fortunate and think that it’s their problem, they put themselves in this situation. They could work harder and do better. Let’s admit it, we’ve all done this. But the fact is, if we take the time to get to know the person, to hear their heart and their story, we will often find a very different story than we assumed. I’m not saying that is the case every time, a few bad apples do spoil the bunch. We get a bad taste  from the few that actually take advantage of the system. Today, the challenge is to try and look at the less fortunate or someone that is in trouble with the eyes of God. Can we love them and help them, even if we really don’t want to?

Prayer: Lord, help us today to see people with your eyes. Give us compassion and give us an ear to listen, but not just listen but really hear. Help us to love the “unlovable”.