by John O’Malley
“And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her” (Ruth 3:16).
No matter how you visualize it, Ruth’s arrival must have been quite a sight. Considering she had left adorned from within and without for Boaz, she now came back with her veil laden with barley threshed by him. Here, this younger lady, carrying a load of grain and wearing her finest clothing, arrived at Naomi’s door. Ruth would have had some difficulty making a quiet entrance as dawn broke across the horizon on what was to be an exciting day.
She had so much to tell Naomi. Scripture is silent on the manner of Ruth’s greeting; nonetheless, her presence was detected in the house. Naomi called out to her, “Who art thou, my daughter?” Naomi’s question was not to figure out whoshe was, but rather whose she was. She wanted to determine whether or not Ruth was betrothed to Boaz.
Had Boaz agreed to be the goel for the family of Elimelech? Would the stain of past failures be erased by the provision of Jehovah’s laws? Would there be a wedding that would make the three funerals they had faced in recent days be forgotten? Naomi’s question sought to learn Ruth’s status: “You were the darling in his harvest; but, dear Ruth, are you the darling of his heart?”
Ruth’s words are kept from us in this verse. We are told, “She told her all that the man had done to her.” Certainly, the words she used told every important detail about the evening when he made the commitment of his heart to her. Her words must have sent the message to Naomi’s heart that God was delivering bread again in Bethlehem-judah. As Ruth revealed every detail, Naomi knew it was the hand of God that had done this work. Nothing was too hard for Naomi’s God! He, the Forgiver of all mistakes, the Healer of all hurts, and the Lord of all harvests, had stepped into her life and would restore her husband’s name and redeem them in their current state.
Ruth knew the joy of acceptance and shared the testimony of being the darling of his heart with Naomi. For the believer, there was a day in our lives when the Lord of Glory interrupted our lives and gave us a moment when He made His love known to us and made us the darling of His heart. Paul wrote it this way: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Do you have a testimony that declares that you are the darling of His heart?
“And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her” (Ruth 3:16).