Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ruth 1-4.

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There are so many themes in the Book of Ruth that are worth looking at that I never know where to start.  Today, I am going to look at the courtship of Boaz and Ruth.  The writer first introduces us to Ruth’s faith by telling us how she committed herself to Naomi’s God.  Something about Naomi led Ruth to make this commitment to both Naomi and the God she worshiped.  We should all pray that we make a similar impression on those with whom we interact.  When the writer introduces us to Boaz he makes a point of showing us Boaz’ faith, and how it impacted those who worked for him.  We could easily read Boaz’ greeting as a ritualistic greeting that does not mean anything, but I am confident that the writer included it to show us that Boaz was a man who strove to serve God, and that he influenced those who worked for him to do the same.

So, now that we have established that both Ruth and Boaz were dedicated to the Lord, we come to their courtship.  Boaz sees Ruth gleaning and immediately wants to know more about her.  He assumes she must be spoken for, that she must have a man who functions as her protector.  When he learns that she does not have a protector, he makes clear to her that he will protect her from those who answer to him.  But he is careful to stay within the bounds of propriety.  I could go on and describe how each thing which both Ruth and Boaz say indicates that they were showing an interest in the other, but that neither was willing to assume the other’s actions were more than an expression of their goodness.  It takes Naomi to finally tell Ruth to lay her cards on the table, to put her reputation into Boaz’s hands by lying down with him when he slept.  Boaz in all things acted with propriety.  It was only when Ruth made her interest in Boaz clear, at the instigation of her mother-in-law, that Boaz took action.  And even then he first allowed the one with a greater claim the option to marry Ruth ahead of him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.