8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 10 So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
This verse begins a conversation between Boaz, but it is not one continuous dialogue.
2:8
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter [mild form of endearment; this is Boaz’s attempt to break down a social barrier between them], will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.
By staying close to the “young women” Ruth would be able to collect more grain. This was an act of unadulterated grace.
2:9
Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
Boaz commanded the young men not to harass Ruth. He gave Ruth the right to drink from the water the young men drew; this was an unusual privilege.
2:10
So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
The grace of Boaz caused Ruth to become overwhelmed by his generosity. This was especially gracious because she was a Gentile. Added to this grace was that Ruth did nothing to earn it.
Boaz gave Ruth his favor/grace because of her care for Naomi. He did not owe anything to her. That is the upshot of Boaz’s question to his foreman about to whom Ruth belonged.
PRINCIPLE:
Our reaction to grace should be one of humility.
APPLICATION:
Ruth had every expectation that people would turn their backs on her. She viewed herself as having a stigma. In our very status as “sinners,” “Christ died for us” (Ro 5:8). Despite our stigma as sinners, God gave His grace to us. Why we find grace from God is an enigma to us all.
Ro 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
