Slices
Prepare
Reflect on these words: ‘The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness’ (Lamentations 3:22,23, NASB1995).
Bible passage
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. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, ‘Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.’
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 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.
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.
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 guardian-redeemers.’
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, ‘He even said to me, “Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.”’
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, ‘It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.’
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Explore
I wonder if you’ve tried learning a new language. I’ve loved grappling with some basic French over this past year. It’s interesting to work out how new phrases might be used, but I remain bewildered at those words that just can’t be translated directly into English.
In the book of Ruth, a similar translation issue arises with the wonderful Hebrew word, hesed, used on three occasions as Naomi blesses her daughters-in-law (1:8), when Naomi speaks of Boaz (2:20) and finally when Boaz recognises the generosity of Ruth (3:10). The roots of hesed lie in God’s covenant relationship with his people, referring to God’s unconditional love and unending loyalty. Hesed, translated here as kindness, runs deeper than a simple emotion, but is reflected in God’s compassionate mercy, which remains unbroken despite the brokenness of humanity.
Naomi understands the gracious, kindness bestowed by Boaz on Ruth (v 20). We begin to see how God’s restoration for these two widows unfolds through this beautiful story, a restoration that gives us a foretaste of God’s hesed for humanity, in all its brokenness, ultimately expressed by God’s forgiveness for our sin, through the sacrificial love of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Respond
Praise God for his lovingkindness and his unending grace.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 35,36; Hebrews 3
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for the Digital Solutions team, the Development Hub and our partner Zoocha as they complete the final testing of a new online Resource Centre and prepare to upload the content. This will greatly improve access to all the resources at the heart of the Revealing Jesus mission framework.
