After having pronounced “The Lord be with you,” in 2:4, Boaz goes on to pronounce an absolution (of sorts) and a blessing. I’m teaching Ruth 2 at Sunday School today and doing some brushing up.
Ruth 2:8-9
And Boaz said to Ruth,
“Have you not heard, my daughter?
Do not go to glean in another field,
and, moreover, do not cross over from this one.
And thus, you shall cling with my young women.
Your eyes shall be on the field that (the young men) are reaping
and you shall go after them.
Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you?
And when you thirst, you shall go to the vessels
and you shall drink from that which the young men draw up.”
Boaz appears to be repeating instructions.
“Cling” is dabaq, of “a man shall dabaq to his wife” (Gen. 2:24) and “but Ruth dabaq to [Naomi]” (Ruth 1:14) fame. Boaz doesn’t ask Ruth to cling either to him or to his young men, but to the maids. After telling her to stick with the women, rather than gleaning elsewhere, he adds another caring word of command—“Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you?”
Interesting that his commands express protection, both from himself and from the young men, even as they aim at provision.
This also reminds me of the apocalyptic “water without price” (Isa. 55:1).
Ruth 2:10
And she fell upon her face
and she bowed down to the ground,
and she said to him,
“Why have I found favor (chen) in your eyes
that you take notice of me
and (yet) I am a foreigner?”
Abraham “bowed to the ground” in front of the three visitors, as Moses did to Jethro, and Gideon did to the angel.
The most similar bow is Jacob’s (and Leah’s and Rachel’s and the maids’) to Esau at Gen. 33:4-11. Jacob explains his bow: “For I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably (chen)” (v. 10).
I recently read a paper (that I wish I could cite, but it’s still in draft form), which begins by explaining the historical relationship between nobility and gentleness. Gentleness is the virtue which mitigates the anger of the nobleman, upon whom it is incumbent to expand his capacity to endure slights and insults, both those directed against himself and those directed against his (many noble) friends.
I have not undertaken the patient work of the virtue-philosopher, but I will simply offer a literary translation: “favor” (chen), which we should associate with the gen-erative virtues of gentleness and generosity, is what the law requires of the Big Man.
I know this because of my focused work on the Sabbath Command (e.g. Exod. 20:8-11), which specifically requires landowning Israelite men both to rest and to grant release/rest to their children, servants, animals, and foreigners-in-their-midst.
Showing favor may exceed social expectations, but it doesn’t exceed the law. The “righteousness which exceeds” (cf. Matt. 5:20) actually requires the Big Man to be generous to the Little Guy, even when that generosity angers his other laborers (cf. Matt. 20:15-16, “Are you angry because I am generous?”).
Granting rest means more than paid Saturdays off. Ponder this: What would it mean for Boaz to grant Ruth rest?
Jesus’ development of the Sabbath Law, extending it to require folks to grant release (aphesis) through the forgiveness (aphesis, cf. Luke 1:77) of their sins, resembles Esau’s forgiveness of Jacob. When we have the opportunity to forgive sins, we become, as Esau became to Jacob, “the face of God” (Gen. 33:10). This helps me understand why priests are charged with the ministry of proclaiming absolution to penitents.
If Ruth is supposed to literarily embody the “ideal convert” to Judaism, we should call Boaz the “ideal evangelist,” as his demonstration of deep Torah-observance (despite whatever complex motivations or feelings he may or may not have) facilitates Ruth’s conversion and new life.
Ah man, if I had more time, I would totally want to write on this—Boaz as “ideal evangelist.” Christians, maybe Matthew’s Jesus is really right: embody Torah maximally and develop a secure relationship with God, and you will be the kingdom of heaven. Maybe I will do that.
Ruth 2:11-12
And Boaz answered and he said to her,
“It has surely been declared to me
all which you did with your mother-in-law
after the death of your husband,
that you abandoned your father and your mother and the land of your relatives
and you came to a people whom you did not know previously.May the Lord complete your deed,
and may your wages exist as full
from the Lord, the God of Israel,
under whose wings you came to find refuge.”
This text shows us that Boaz knows Ruth’s family situation and, importantly, that there is a nearer redeemer. Although it’s foolish to trust literary figures to accurately represent their inner lives and motivations in their dialogue, it appears, at least in Boaz’s behavior, that he hopes Ruth’s situation is resolved according to Torah (i.e. the levirate marriage law in Deut. 25:5-10). That is, this is simply Torah Generosity, and not a Long Flirt.
In the second verse, this Priest-Man, who introduced himself with the words, “The Lord be with you” (v. 4) now pronounces a blessing. What impresses me about Boaz here, is that he has identified Ruth’s reported actions as an identifiable work undertaken alongside God with a natural reward —that is, as a blessable endeavor.
When I was made a priest two weeks ago, I was invited to pronounce my first blessing, just before the dismissal. It ran along similar lines: “Go before us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, through your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This blessing calls me (and all priests, and all of us) to the same summit to which the Torah had called Boaz. We go about these days asking about people’s “stories,” which is fine and good, but I’m being inclined, also, to go about discerning people’s works, their attempts to do good by God to the end of everlasting life.
Ruth 2:13
And she said, “I have found favor in your eyes,
for you have comforted me
and because you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant
(although) I do not exist as one of your maidservants.”
After Boaz had interpreted Ruth’s work as coming to “find refuge” from the “Lord,” Ruth interprets Boaz’s work as “speaking to the heart,” providing what might ordinarily have been reserved for one’s maidservant.
I’m sure that the food security helped Ruth’s comfort, too, but I think this is the point of this text: words of blessing speak to the heart and give comfort.