Ted Arthur Ministries

January 1, 2012                                   HARVEST TIME

Rth 2:1  Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
Rth 2:2  And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor." Naomi said to her, "Go ahead, my daughter."
Rth 2:3  So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

Ruth’s willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit is leading her into her place of prosperity. Everyone has such a place, it is  divinely appointed place where the glory of God will be manifested. Your situation may be much like Ruth’s, there was no great fan fare in what Ruth was doing. Actually it was just the opposite of that, she just went out day after day through the harvest season and did what she could. All of this never happened in a day or two, see Ruth 2:23. Just because your situation is not what you would like it to be does not mean that you are on the wrong path.  

Rth 2:4  Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called back.
Rth 2:5  Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, "Whose young woman is that?"
Rth 2:6  The foreman replied, "She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.
Rth 2:7  She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter."

We see the character of Boaz displayed here. He greeted his workers in the name of the LORD, and he knew workers well enough to notice a stranger in the field. He did not ask what her name was, but he ask what her relationship was. “Whose young woman is that”. The foreman’s reply told Boaz that Ruth was a woman without covenant, she was a strange a land where a Moabite would not have a warm welcome. The only hope Ruth had was that someone would have mercy on her and Naomi. The only thing she had to offer was herself . That’s the same place you were, and many still are. If it had not been for the grace of God we all would perish. In verse seven Ruth ask for little but she will receive much.

Rth 2:8  So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
Rth 2:9  Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled."
Rth 2:10  At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?"

Boaz offered Ruth a place of safety, and a place of provision. All Ruth had to do was stay where she was led, and she was going to be under the protection and provision of Boaz. If Ruth chose to go glean in the field of another, Boaz would not be there to sustain her. She had the right to choose where she would glean. As long as you are where the Holy Spirit led you, you are under His protection. Ruth’s response to Boaz’s offer was to prostate herself before him as a mark of respect for a social superior. As a Moabitess, she could have been ignored by Boaz, but he had noticed and shown kindness to her.

Rth 2:11  Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
Rth 2:12  May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
Rth 2:13  "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."

When Ruth’s husband died her obligation to Naomi ended, but Ruth remained with Naomi. This is what Boaz was speaking of in verse 11. In verse 12 Boaz prayed a prayer that would be fulfilled by the one who prayed it.

Rth 2:14  At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.
Rth 2:15  As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her.
Rth 2:16  Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."

As a gleaner Ruth would normally have had little or nothing to eat while in the fields, but Boaz invited her to eat with his workers. You might say he made her a joint heir. Ruth went out empty but she came back full. This is the opposite of what Naomi said in 1:21. In verses 15-16 we see Ruth beginning to prosper. Ruth’s prosperity was happening because of the word of Boaz. The Word of God can do the same for you.

Rth 2:17  So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.
Rth 2:18  She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
Rth 2:19  Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
Rth 2:20  "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers."

Ruth came home with about 26 quarts of barley. That’s enough grain to feed a man for several weeks. This is one days work for a young woman who was willing to be led by the Spirit, and who was willing to obedient when she got there. Some Christians want to do their own thing, and then be lazy while they are doing it. Then they ask Lord “where is my prosperity”. Their prosperity is in the fields of Boaz working hard, and being led by the Holy Spirit. You should notice that Naomi’s bitterness is going away. She is now speaking of the LORD in a different way. Your obedience can deliver others from satanic bondage.  

Rth 2:21  Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "He even said to me, 'Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'"
Rth 2:22  Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else's field you might be harmed."
Rth 2:23  So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.