Ruth 2:4

_AND BEHOLD, BOAZ CAME FROM BETHLEHEM, AND SAID UNTO THE REAPERS, THE LORD BE WITH YOU. AND THEY ANSWERED HIM, THE LORD BLESS THEE._ The Lord be with you. This pious salutation between the master and his labourers strongly indicates the state of religious feeling among the rural population of Israel at that time, as well as the artless, happy, and unsuspecting simplicity which characterized the manners of the people. The same patriarchal style of speaking is still preserved in the East....

4-16 The pious and kind language between Boaz and his reapers shows that there were godly persons in Israel. Such language as this is seldom heard in our field; too often, on the contrary, what is immoral and corrupt. A stranger would form a very different opinion of our land, from that which Ruth would form of Israel from the converse and conduct of Boaz and his reapers. But true religion will teach a man to behave aright in all states and conditions; it will form kind masters and faithful servants, and cause harmony in families. True religion will cause mutual love and kindness among persons of different ranks. It had these effects on Boaz and his men. When he came to them he prayed for them. They did not, as soon as he was out of hearing curse him, as some ill-natured servants that hate their master's eye, but they returned his courtesy. Things are likely to go on well where there is...

Verse Ruth 2:4. _BOAZ CAME FROM BETH-LEHEM_] This salutation between Boaz and his reapers is worthy of particular regard; he said, יהוה עמחם _Yehovah immachem_, "Jehovah be with you!" They said, יברכך יהוה _yebarechecha Yehovah_, "May Jehovah bless thee!" Can a pious mind read these godly salutations without wishing for a return of those simple primitive times? The words may be thus paraphrased: "May God be with you, to preserve you from accidents, and strengthen you to accomplish your work!" "May God bless THEE with the increase of the field, and grace to use his bounty to the glory of the Giver!...

EXPOSITION IT is by way of introduction to the remaining narrative that the writer says:— RUTH 2:1 AND NAOMI HAD, ON HER HUSBAND'S SIDE, A FRIEND. The C'tib reading מְיֻדַּע (absolute מְיֻדָע) is much to be preferred to the K'ri מוֹדַע. But מְיֻדָּע is ambiguous in import. It primarily means _known_, _well-known_, _acquainted_, _an acquaintance _(see Job 19:14; Psalms 55:13; Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:18). But as intimate acquaintances, especially in a primitive and compar

AND, BEHOLD, BOAZ CAME TO BETHLEHEM,.... Into the field, to see how his workmen went on, and performed their service, and to encourage them in it by his presence, and by his courteous language and behaviour, and to see what provisions were wanting, that he might take care and give orders for the sending of them, it being now near noon, as it may be supposed; and though he was a man of great wealth, he did not think it below him to go into his field, and look after his servants, which was highly commendable in him, and which showed his diligence and industry, as well as his humility. So a king in Homer q is represented as among his reapers, with his sceptre in his hand, and cheerful. Pliny r relates it, as a saying of the ancients, that the eye of the master is the most fruitful thing in the field; and Aristotle s reports, that a Persian being asked what fattened a horse most, replied, th...

CHAPTER 2 GLEANING IN THE FIELD _ 1. Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1)_ 2. Grace shown to Ruth by Boaz (Ruth 2:4) 3. Ruth hears concerning Boaz (Ruth 2:18) Boaz comes now upon the scene. His name means “in Him is strength.” He is called “a mighty man of wealth.” As the kinsman-redeemer he is a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom there is strength, the rich one. Ruth knows at first little of him and the coming relationship with the wealthy one. Boaz is related to Elimelech, whose name “my God is king” is typical of Israel's faith. Through Elimelech only Naomi (the nation Israel) has a claim on Boaz. And she can only lay claim through Ruth. Even so Israel has a claim on the ble

THE MEETING OF BOAZ AND RUTH. Naomi's kinsman quite a different word from the near kinsman (goë l) of Ruth 2:20 is introduced in Heb. words which sometimes denoted a wealthy man, and sometimes a valiant man, so that a peaceful farmer like Boaz is characterised in the same terms as warriors like Gideon and Jephthah (Judges 6:12; Judges 11:1). The name Boaz may mean in Him is strength. Ruth 2:2. It was a custom, and it became a law, in Israel that the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow should be permitted to glean in the harvest fields (Deuteronomy 24:19

THEY ANSWERED. This tells of. time of peace, prosperity, and quiet....

_The Lord be with you_ Cf. Judges 6:12; Psalms 129:8. A religious spirit governs the relations between employer and employed on this estate....

DISCOURSE: 280 BOAZ AND HIS REAPERS Ruth 2:4. _And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee._ EVERY season suggests to us some appropriate considerations: and even the most common incidents of life are capable of affording us very important instruction. Certainly, at first sight, a man’s intercourse with his reapers would not promise much for spiritual edification: but the address of Boaz to his people, and their reply to him, were altogether so different from what is usual in our day, that we shall find our time not unprofitably employed in the investigation of them. I. _Their mutual address_ is the first thing to be considered— It may be understood in a two-fold view; 1. As a friendly salutation— [It seems probable that, if not at that time, yet in after ages, this ki