Date: March 23, 2025
Lord’s Day: 12
Series: Redeeming Ruth
Title: I Am Hungry
Text: Ruth 2:1-17
Introduction:
Thus far, our text from the book is saturated with the fall of man. As you recall, the book of Ruth begins giving us when it was written. “In the days when the Judges ruled . . . there was a famine in the land.” How does the book of Judges end? “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
It does sound strikingly similar to the current time. The fall of man has saturated our study thus far. Rebellion, death and poverty have been dominating themes.
While reflecting upon our studies, one may be tempted to think that I am preparing you for a season of suffering. This is not the case. Rather, I can think of no better way to portray the sovereignty of our Lord than to show how He rules over the worst of times.
As we march towards The Passion Week, we can witness our Sovereign Lord reigning and ruling over death and the grave. The ultimate suffering seen through the Suffering Servant.
A couple of weeks ago I had shared on a Monday Thursday thoughts concerning a tapestry. We can look at this tapestry from the back side and it is a mess. There are strings going everywhere and none of them seem to make sense. Yet, on the other side, there is a beautiful picture.
This would be a good way to recall how God works through suffering. How He reigns through difficult times. As we are in those difficult periods, it may seem a disjointed mess. How, even He will set us through seasons of suffering, but ultimately a beautiful picture emerges. He is weaving it for us.
There are far too many people who fail to see that it is our own rebelliousness and doing what is right in our own eyes that has brought this death and poverty. Some never taste and see that God is good. Some never see how God works through this tapestry of life to create a masterpiece.
How does this work in our text today? Let us begin to see.
Back in Bethlehem
Recall last week Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem. Naomi was greeted, “Is this sweetheart? Is this pleasant?” No, I am not sweetheart any longer. My name is Bitter! The Lord took me away full and brought me back empty.”
This is some selective recall. Naomi did not leave Bethlehem full. Naomi did leave with a husband and two boys. It is true that they are gone. But they left in dire circumstances. They left because they could not find food in a place called, “The House of Bread.”
That is like saying, “We can’t fly a kite in the Windy City.” There are no beans in bean town. People are splitting up, relationships are ending in the city of romance. There is no light in the city of light. The eternal city has been destroyed.
This was the original issue. Naomi’s recollection is fuzzy. The House of Bread had no bread. There was nothing.
We can do that as we look back over time. As we grow we can be tempted to do this. Someone may take your seat. But this is my pew. Do I ask them to get up and move? I have sat here for 20 years.
You deacons in charge of the building may have to do repairs more often. We do not encourage recklessness. Rather we encourage to respect the property, however, as the building fills, naturally, walls get dinged and paint gets chipped and messes get made.
Sunday morning will get louder as the sanctuary fills will more families. Men and parents need to look out for children as they get too close to our mature ladies. These are the growing pains.
It may be very easy to look at those issues and ponder when there was more respect. It was when the place was a bit more empty. God’s blessing will bring some chaos. We can handle it.
Let us not be like Naomi and have selective recall. Right? Amen?
Let The Gleaning Begin
As Naomi and Ruth settle in to life back in Bethlehem they begin to ponder how they are going to eat. We came back because House of Bread has bread again; how do we get our hands on some of that?
It is called gleaning. Anyone hear of it? Just as “return” appears 12 times in the rest of chapter 1, glean appears 12 times in chapter 2.
Leviticus 19; 23 and Dt 24 provide details on this practice. In summary, this was a practice for orphans, widows, sojourners (any foreigner living among the covenant community) and those who were in poverty. It was a way to provide for those people.
When grains or stalks were dropped in the corners and on the edges of a property, when the fields are being harvested they were told to leave them there. Don’t pick up those dropped parts.
This still happens today, even with big modern machinery. My daughter’s school is in the middle of a large corn field. The parking lot edges right up to a field. I park there and will drop the gate of my truck or open the hatch of my Volvo and will sit and read and look out into the field.
I have noticed during harvest, when the big machines come and eat up the stalks and do what they do, there are still little kernels of corn on the ground. You can see this in the middle of the field. When a farmer gives a parcel of land a sabbath rest and does not grow anything on it, or puts maybe a cover crop on it, you will see a random corn plant grow every now and again. This is the occasional kernel of corn that the machine misses.
This is the idea of gleaning. The harvesters are to leave that and those poor, widowed, orphaned, etc. can come and pick it up and have some ability to eat.
The plan was Ruth would go and ask a relative of her father-in-law (Elimelech) and see if she could glean in his fields.
V.1 Boaz is described: Worthy Man ESV
Man of standing NIV
Influential man NLT
Mighty Man KJV
Man of great wealth NKJV/NASB95/RSV
The Hebrew word = Gibbor. Now you may ponder why I bring this up. Recall from our very first week together as we looked at Isaiah 6. We discussed the various names of God. Last week we dealt with two, El Shaddai and the covenant name of God YHWH. El Shaddai- almighty and Naomi said, the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
When we spoke of these names of God, we considered the Christmas passage from Isaiah 9, “To us a child is given, to us a son is born . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God.” El Gabbor is the word used there.
What we see in our text of Ruth 2 is Gabbor – mighty. This Boaz first description is mighty. KJV may have it best here.
This description of Elimelech we see through this text that he is a very well-respected man. When he comes into the field he is greeted respectfully (2:4). The men that work for Boaz respect his authority and followed his desires as their boss. He is a compassionate boss who makes sure his men are fed and rested.
It gives the distinction (2:2) of Ruth’s Moabite origin. This is mentioned five times in the book of Ruth. This would be in relation that she is an outsider; she came from Moab.
She is looking for someone who will be gracious with her. This is what favor means. It is the same meaning regarding Noah: “Noah found favor (grace KJV) in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen 6:8).
Being a widow the Law of Moses (Dt. 24) commanded they be able to glean. But the workers did not have to be kind to her. They did not have to be nice to her. Being an outsider meant many things for Ruth on a “job site” seeking welfare and none of them were good. So she is seeking a gracious act from this mighty man.
Boaz takes notice of Ruth
Boaz notices Ruth working. “Who is this?” This is Ruth the Moabite. She has been working all day and has really only taken a short break. She is looking after her mother-in-law.
Boaz speaks to Ruth and is certain to tell her to remain only in his field. It is not that he is attracted to her, he wants to protect her. He wants his men to look after her and ensure that she is safe.
But then Boaz goes the extra mile. He blesses Ruth in a very large way.
Recall that gleaning is getting what falls to the ground. It could be a stalk. It could be just a few heads of grain. Whatever falls to the ground, on the edge of the field, the workers are to leave for the poor.
At lunch Ruth is invited to eat with the boys. She is invited upto have the prepared food of bread, roasted grain and wine. She had so much to eat there were leftovers. She needed a doggie bag.
Then, Boaz tells his workers to allow her to glean inside the field. Not only was she gleaning inside the field but they were also just spreading food on the ground. I never knew agriculture could be so romantic.
When she arrived home that evening, 2:17 says she had an ephah of barley. Isn’t that terrific? Everyone knows what an Ephah is, right?
Expectations
I looked all around the internet, I used AI. I consulted my reference books. I could not find anywhere, what was expected on a typical day of gleaning. I wanted to know, how much, on average, did a person get gleaning.
I know it was not a lot. I still wanted to know and there is nothing out there that could answer that question. So, just so you are aware, what I am about to show you can’t be substantiated. It is pure guess work on my part. What I reasoned was enough grain to make a loaf of bread. This is most likely too generous.
I base it on Naomi’s reaction to what Ruth brought in. I also base it on how much grain I have seen on the edges of a field today. This is an overestimate.
However, an Ephah is a measurement we can find the meaning to. I will show you what Ruth should have gotten (wheat in a measuring cup) and what Ruth brought home (60% of a bushel basket).
Differing Views
What is telling in our passage today is the differing view which Naomi and Ruth has. It is unknown the conversations between Naomi and Ruth that led up to 2:1 but there had to be some. These women had to eat, they had no income and so what proceeded was Ruth says, “Hey, I am going to go glean for us and I really hope I can find grace with this mighty man Elimelech.”
Ruth’s vision is of faithful expectation. She has been faithful from the beginning
Naomi:
Yes, boys, you can marry these Moabite women (prohibited)
Yes, girls, how about you go home and marry some good idol worshipers
Yes, God has been bitter with me, go your own way.
Yes, I am changing my name to bitter
Ruth:
I will not go back to my people
I will not leaving you
Your God is my God
I am going out to find someone to be gracious to us
Naomi’s attitude and expectation is not, I am going to pull myself up by my bootstraps, it is more like, I have not even any bootstraps because God has taken them from me.
Ruth’s attitude and expectation is I have to be faithful which means I go to do the things which follow faithfulness.
Ruth was faithful. Naomi is unfaithful. Naomi is of the covenant family of faith. Ruth is an outsider.
When Ruth went out to glean (the two cup flour) this is what Naomi expected. What Ruth went to do is glean and in faith desire that she find someone to be gracious to her. What she attained was abundance.
We find this same situation with Jesus in John 6. As you read through the gospels, Jesus feeds great multitudes twice. One of the feedings was with the Law of Moses Covenant Family (Matthew 15) which would be like Naomi’s. The second is recorded here in John 6, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee which is clearly for those who are outside of the Law of Moses Covenant Family which would be like Ruth because she as a Moabite woman.
Jesus looks at his disciples and says, “We should feed these people.” It had defined (6:2) the gathering as a “large” crowd and then later refined it to about 5K (6:10) men.
Philip says, “Where we gonna get enough food to feed all these people.” The math was not mathing for Philip. His advice to Jesus was similar to Naomi, “We ain’t got nothing.”
But Andrew found a boy with a box lunch. Five barley loaves and two fish. Any of us who grew up in church know this story. Jesus fed everyone, miraculously. Here is where liberal scholarship gets us. They like to explain away the miracle. “Jesus really did not feed everyone with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, actually everyone shared. They all shared their lunch and Jesus had motivated them to share” No. Wrong. Jesus fed them, all. 10,000+ people were fed by Jesus with 5 loaves and 2 fish.
You know how I know that? Well, first, because I believe it. I believe what the Bible says. Second, they come looking for Jesus a little later in the John 6. Jesus goes to the other side of the lake and they meet him there. Jesus goes by water, they go by land. They are hungry.
Did you ever realize how many hungry people there are in the Bible? There are a lot of hungry stories.
Jesus says, “you know why you are following me? Cause I fed you. Stop spending all your energy on eating for food that perishes. Seek the food that endures for eternal life.”
They replied, “Hey, you remember manna? God gave it to our ancestors when they were in the wilderness. Give us some of this.”
Your biggest need is not eating food. It is a need. Why were these people following Jesus? Because they had a need for bread. They wanted more bread. Jesus says, this is not your biggest need. I fed you yesterday, and you are hungry again. What you need is the true bread from heaven!”
“Give us this bread ALWAYS!”
Jesus replies, “It is me. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.’
The Psalmist says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
The issue for most of us, for the people in the text, for Naomi and for us, we have a view where we simply just want fed for the day. We have this (glass measuring cup) view of God. What He wants to give us is (bushel basket) this.
We come to him in prayer with this view. When we should be coming with (bushel) this view.
Here is where the prosperity theology go off the rails because they will make it about how God wants to bless us abundantly with riches, success, health, wealth, etc. That is the idol. We are back eating again. That is not Jesus’ point.
Jesus was saying, our biggest need is NOT earthly hunger. We are dead without Christ. Our community is dead without Christ. We need this bread of heaven . . . only once. This bread addresses a hunger that will never come back.
At the close of the sermon two weeks ago I asked the question: how does the bread of life relate to the house of bread? Here is your answer. Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem (house of bread) is our bread of life.
Far too often we approach our Lord in prayer for this congregation with (glass) expectation and not with (basket) this expectation. The Hebrews writer encourages us to come boldly to the throne of grace in our time of need.
That does not mean demanding. It does not mean disrespectful. God is not our genie in a bottle.
It means, we are praying for our growth as believers. It means that we are praying for the growth of this congregation numerically and spiritually. These are things God desires. This is God’s will, your sanctification 1Thess 4:3. With confidence and the faithfulness of Ruth, we pray expecting this (bushel)
