Ruth 2:17-23

4. Ruth’s blessing of Naomi physically 2:17-23

At the end of the day’s work Ruth beat out and winnowed the grain she had gleaned. She had collected about three-fifths of a bushel of barley, "the equivalent of at least half a month’s wages in one day" (Ruth 2:17). [Note: Hubbard, p. 179. Cf. Huey, p. 532.] Ruth also took the food she had left over from lunch back to Naomi (Ruth 2:18; cf. Ruth 2:14).

Naomi twice blessed Ruth’s benefactor (Ruth 2:19-20). She prayed that Yahweh would bless Boaz who had been a source of blessing to her and Ruth. Every prayer in this book is a prayer of blessing, and God answered every one of them. [Note: Hals, pp. 4, 7.] She also identified Boaz’s kindness as loyal love (Heb. hesed, Ruth 2:20). Previously she had asked God to deal "kindly" (hesed) with Ruth and Orpah for dealing kindly with her husband, her sons, and herself (Ruth 1:8). Boaz had proved to be God’s agent in extending kindness to Naomi and Ruth, and indirectly to their husbands (Ruth 2:20).

"For Naomi, who at 1.20-21 delivers a scathing indictment of Yahweh as her oppressor, to declare the munificence of his hesed conduct at 2.20 without any redress is to scuttle the plot and reduce everything that follows to a disappointing anticlimax. The vindication of Yahweh is not to be found in the utterances of Naomi but in the utterances of the women in 4.14 to whom Naomi addressed her indictment in 1.20-21." [Note: B. Rebera, "Yahweh or Boaz? Ruth 2:20 Reconsidered," The Bible Translator 36 (1985):324.]

The beauty of Ruth’s character shines forth in Ruth 2:21. She did not view her relationship with Boaz as a way out of her own responsibility to provide for herself and her aged mother-in-law. Instead she rejoiced that she could continue to discharge her duty in safety.

The wheat harvest followed the barley harvest by a month and a half (Ruth 2:23). The Feast of Unleavened Bread in late March or early April inaugurated the barley harvest. The Feast of Firstfruits seven weeks later in late May or early June terminated the wheat harvest. Ruth must have been out in the fields for six or seven weeks. [Note: See Block, p. 677.]

Chapter 2 marks God’s initial blessing on Ruth for her faith in Yahweh. She received blessing and became a channel of blessing to Naomi. So far God’s blessing had been the provision of food and safety. These blessings came through Boaz, another channel of blessing, because of his faith in Yahweh seen in his fear of God and his love for people. Still more abundant and more significant blessing was yet to come.