Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
10th of November, 2024
Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Today we hear the second of our two readings from the biblical Book of Ruth. Last week, you will remember, Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion left Bethlehem for Moab to find food in a time of famine. The sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After all three men died, Naomi decided to return to Judah. Orpah went back to her mother’s home, but Ruth insisted on accompanying her mother-in-law in words that have become justly famous.
In between that reading and this one, Ruth has been gleaning in the fields of a man who turned out to be ‘a kinsman on [Naomi’s] husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz’. The poor, including widows, were permitted by the law to glean in the fields of the wealthy, but Boaz did more than was necessary: telling Ruth to stay in his fields, where he had ordered the young men not to bother her; allowing her to drink the water his young men had drawn up; sharing his meal with her; and, most importantly, telling his workers, ‘Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.’ But when today’s reading starts the harvest is almost over, and Boaz has done nothing to indicate that his protection will continue. Continue reading
