Rut 2:3 | KingComments | STEP | Ruth has no preference whatsoever for the field where she can glean. She would not know on which field she is welcome, or on which field the most ears of grain lies. As far as she is concerned, any field is good. That is why she will have gone into the first available field. This ‘happens to be’ the field of Boaz. That is seen from her side. For us who know this history, it is clear that God has guided it in this way. The ‘chance’ encounters that we may have, encounters that ‘happen to us’, are also God-governed events, through which He works out certain purposes. This would not have happened to her if she had still been under the power of the idols of Moab. The idols of Moab would not have sent her there to that field. She is not looking for the redeemer, she doesn’t know him at all. But the God of Israel, to Whom she has entrusted herself, is working to connect her to Boaz, without her being aware of it. God leads the blind in a way they do not know ( ). In this way He makes Ruth one of the cases in which He brings a woman to a man. He also brought Eve to Adam. She comes “after the reapers” to glean ears. The reapers do an important job. If there were no reapers, there was nothing to glean. The field could be full of wheat, but poor Ruth wouldn’t be able to take anything from it. Reapers provide us with the grown-up corn. Reapers are the people who mow the wheat and bind it together in sheaves. What they drop is food for the poor. It is also the case in spiritual terms. What would we know of the blessings if the Lord had not given gifts ( ) who know the blessings and distribute them to those who have come to faith?

‏ Ruth 2:3

Ruth Enters the Field of Boaz

Ruth has no preference whatsoever for the field where she can glean. She would not know on which field she is welcome, or on which field the most ears of grain lies. As far as she is concerned, any field is good. That is why she will have gone into the first available field. This ‘happens to be’ the field of Boaz. That is seen from her side. For us who know this history, it is clear that God has guided it in this way. The ‘chance’ encounters that we may have, encounters that ‘happen to us’, are also God-governed events, through which He works out certain purposes.

This would not have happened to her if she had still been under the power of the idols of Moab. The idols of Moab would not have sent her there to that field. She is not looking for the redeemer, she doesn’t know him at all. But the God of Israel, to Whom she has entrusted herself, is working to connect her to Boaz, without her being aware of it. God leads the blind in a way they do not know (Isa 42:16a). In this way He makes Ruth one of the cases in which He brings a woman to a man. He also brought Eve to Adam.

She comes “after the reapers” to glean ears. The reapers do an important job. If there were no reapers, there was nothing to glean. The field could be full of wheat, but poor Ruth wouldn’t be able to take anything from it. Reapers provide us with the grown-up corn. Reapers are the people who mow the wheat and bind it together in sheaves. What they drop is food for the poor. It is also the case in spiritual terms. What would we know of the blessings if the Lord had not given gifts (Eph 4:7 ; 11) who know the blessings and distribute them to those who have come to faith?