We know where the field is, too!
Boaz was a “mighty man of wealth.” This expression is not found in Scripture anywhere else, but you know that Boaz is a picture of the Lord Jesus, our Kinsman. There is no reason why God’s people should live as paupers; everything our “mighty man of wealth” possesses is ours. “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
Ruth had a great deal of faith. She said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace” (v. 2). How did she know that she had any rights to glean in the fields? Because God—under whose wings she had come to trust—had told His people before they entered the land that this was to be the privilege of the poor and the stranger. She took the place of the stranger, believing the Word of God.
Note Deuteronomy 24:19-21, “When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree…gatherest the grapes…”
One of the blessed principles laid down in the Old Testament and taught in the New is that we should be kind to the stranger, the fatherless and widow. The claim they have on us is not their relationship to us but the opposite; it is their very helplessness that calls for our help.
How may we apply this beautiful passage about gleaning? You know what corn was for—to be made into bread. And you know what bread was for—to give strength for living. Then the olive is a symbol of peace and its oil speaks of the ministry of the Spirit. The grape typified joy. So by these three God teaches us that we are to share His strength and peace and joy with the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
How can we do this? Notice Proverbs 12:25. “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop.” What is going to make it glad? A fifty dollar bill? No! “But a good word maketh it glad.” You know this world is full of heavy hearts and drooping souls. And too many Christians seem to think that good words cost a small fortune each, the way we give them away.
Our Lord accomplished more by His words than by His miracles. I do not know how many people He raised from the dead, but there have been millions brought to glory and millions cheered down here by the loving words of the Lord Jesus. He wants us to be imitators of Him. We, too, can give these encouraging words and be none the poorer for it.
Read also Colossians 3:17. Only recently this struck me with such force: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Has it occurred to you that is a very strange way of putting it, “whatsoever ye do in word or deed”? As if God said, “Every good word you speak for Me is a good work.”
If you want to be glad, try to make others glad. Let us try to give them strength and peace and joy. The miserable man is the one who lives for self; the happiest man forgets self, and lives for others.
Now in Ruth 2:4 it says: “And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, ‘The Lord be with you.’And they answered him, ‘The Lord bless thee.’” These servants might not always have spoken kindly to one another. But when the master came, he spoke kindly to them. He reminded them of the Lord’s presence with them and his servants responded with a reminder of the Lord’s provision. The Master still sets such an example.
Boaz then asks his foreman, “Whose damsel is this?” The chief reaper replied, “That is Ruth, the Moabitess. She has come with Naomi from Moab. She is very poor. Naomi has nothing for her, so she has come to glean.” So Boaz turned to her, and said (v. 8): “Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.” In effect, he said, “All the fields around you belong to me; I have plenty to satisfy you.”
The Lord Jesus tells His people, “Love not the world.” Do not go to glean in another field. Do not look for anything to satisfy you outside of My fields. Do you know why there is so much sorrow in the Church, so many sad hearts among God’s people, so much coldness and deadness? We do not think He has enough to satisfy us. We have a craving for something else. As a result sorrow and sadness have come over our souls.
God requires that we should come right out, and be separate. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” Let us get the question settled. If we are Christians, let us be out and out for Christ. Let us be what we are. Oh, my brother, my sister, listen to this advice: “Go not to glean in another field.” There is nothing but hay and stubble there. But there is a bountiful harvest for you in the Master’s fields. Stay and glean. He will give you plenty.
The next advice that Boaz gives to Ruth is this: “When thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes…? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done….”
Perhaps you are a worker for the Lord. At times you get fearfully discouraged. You are working away, perhaps, in some little dark street; you start off on Sunday afternoon, and when you get there you find five or six people gathered. You tell them the truth, but they seem indifferent, and the Word does not appear to have any effect.
Nobody pats you on the back and says you are doing a good work. So you get discouraged. Nobody seemed to notice Ruth, either, but Boaz said, “It hath fully been showed me….” I would rather the Lord took knowledge of my work than anyone else. He will not forget those dreary days when you went to teach those people about His beloved Son. Take courage. You may have to go through the rain and the mud; but there never was an angel in heaven yet who had the privilege of catching a cough or cold for Jesus. Boaz knew everything, and if she was patient, he would bring her into the fulness of his blessing. “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee…”
Boaz says, “At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread…and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left” (Ruth 2:14). She did what he told her, and that was why she was so blessed. So with us. We ought to do what He tells us. He will give us strength for obedience, and blessing will follow.
Then he told the servants, “Let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her….” If it had not been for the master, she would never have had anything but single ears of barley. But as soon as she obeyed him, he told the servants to let fall “handfuls of purpose” for her, “and reproach her not.” Do not tell her she is getting too much, that her pile is accumulating too fast.
When we get up yonder, and look back on the past, we will see how many “handfuls of purpose” have been dropped for us, too. You remember that day you went out with a sad heart. You had not gotten very far before you met a friend, “by accident” of course, who spoke so lovingly to you, and cheered you on your way. It was such a happy accident you turned down that street. No, no; your friend came with a handful of blessing. There was no such thing as chance about it. All the way we find our path strewn with handfuls dropped on purpose.
“So she gleaned in the field until even.” She kept at it hour after hour, all the day long. Then just look at what she had gleaned. More than she could carry! So she “beat out that she had gleaned….” She carried away—the straw? No, she did not; but that is what we do sometimes. We attend a meeting, and when we go away we leave the corn behind and carry away only the straw. “Dear me! Never heard anything like that before.” “Do you agree with what he said?” That is carrying away the straw instead of the wheat. Many sermons, like many fields, have more straw than wheat in them. Beat it out. Leave the straw and carry home the wheat. I never heard anyone who spoke about the Master who did not give me some wheat to carry away.
May the Lord help us to go and find some poor Ruth for whom we may drop some “handfuls of purpose” for the Saviour’s sake. Or perhaps we may find some Naomi who awaits our knock at the door to share what we have received at the generous hand of our mighty Man of wealth, our Kinsman-Redeemer. “Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:10-11).