by John O’Malley
“And Boaz answered and said unto her…and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore” (Ruth 2:11).
The tenderness of Boaz’s conversation moved Ruth’s heart. She enquired why Boaz sought her out and loved her so much. He spoke compassionately of how his heart had been touched with her move from Moab to Bethlehem-judah. Boaz had been affected by her decision to identify with the people of God. Boaz saw Ruth and cared deeply for her pitiful condition. Boaz saw Ruth’s compassion for Naomi, Ruth’s conviction to leave her people, and Ruth’s conversion to his God. Boaz responded to Ruth with a measure of grace sufficient to her need.
Ruth knew well the Moabite’s ways of family, friendships, and faith. The Moabites were a people scarred by the sin of Lot’s daughters. Lot’s daughters had gone in unto Lot fearing they would never marry and bear children to carry on the family name. (Lot’s family had lived in Sodom so long that an incestuous rationale made complete sense to them.) The fruit of Lot’s union with his daughters was the Moabites and the Ammonites. Ruth belonged by birth to a people who were among the antagonists of the Israelites. Yet her arrival to Boaz’s field was met with grace and goodness.
Although the Moabites shared the Hebrew’s language, their friendships were with the Ammonites. These two groups were an anathema to God’s people. Yet when Ruth arrived Boaz, God’s ambassador to Bethlehem-judah, met her with grace and goodness.
The Moabites and Ammonites had their faith founded in the gods of Chemosh, Molech, and Baal. Ruth’s people placed their faith in gods whom they could only appease by human sacrifice and vain rituals. Yet her arrival to Boaz’s field was met with grace and goodness.
Perhaps now you see why Ruth was so puzzled at the measure of grace poured into the empty vessel of her heart. She, who had only known the vile ways of Moab’s people and gods, now stood in Israel, a convert to the God of Israel. Ruth went to Bethlehem-judah not seeking asylum, but rather adoption. She was scarred by her past and her losses. She could not even bring her own merit to the town of Bethlehem-judah or to the fields of Boaz. Ruth came to Israel with only her conversion to Israel’s God settled in her heart.
Remember this today: You and I once belonged to a people who were estranged from God. We served with fervor the god of this world, Satan. We were friends with everyone that stood in opposition to God. Yet in our scarred and tainted state,while we were yet sinners, God saw us and had compassion upon us.
Our Eternal Boaz pours out measures of His grace sufficient to our every need. May we never grow accustomed to His grace and goodness, as some in our faith have done. Let us determine to praise and proclaim the goodness of His grace.