Just to recap... At the surface, the book of Ruth is the story of a woman named Naomi. Naomi, her husband, and their two sons moved from Bethlehem to Moab during a famine. Bethlehem is translated as "house of bread" and is part of the holy nation of Israel. While Moabites were related to the Israelites, they were seen as vile and disgusting because of their practice of incest and worship of idols. Israelites were forbidden to marry Moabites; however, while in Moab, Naomi's sons married Moabite women. Tragically, the next thing the Bible tells us is that Naomi's husband and then her two sons died. As a widow living in a foreign land, Naomi had no one to support her. When she heard the famine in Bethlehem had ended, she returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law, Naomi who refused to let Naomi return alone.
As these women returned to Bethlehem, the crisis was severe. Naomi, a widow who went against the customs of her people when life became difficult, and Ruth, a widow from a vile nation, were helpless without the assistance of family members to care for them. The book of Ruth tells us that Naomi's deceased husband's family took them in.
The next part of the story, is the aspect I find especially compelling. Israelite law requires that some of the crop must be left in the field to care for individuals like Naomi and Ruth. Utilizing this provision, Ruth went to a field to glean the extra crop so that they could eat. She gleaned the leftovers behind the hired workers in the field. While she was gleaning, the owner of the field, Boaz, came to the field and greeted his workers. He spoke to the overseer of the field and asked him who Ruth was. Despite her status as an outsider, or perhaps because of it, Boaz was very particular in the way he cared for Ruth. He instructed her to glean alongside the women that worked in his fields, welcomed her to drink his best water, told his men to not remove her from his fields, and at dinner, offered her the best of what he had, truly welcoming this outsider as an equal. Considering the cultural disagreements lying beneath the surface, the actions of Boaz are remarkable. Not only did Boaz care for Ruth's physical needs, he cared for her emotional needs for community and acceptance. What is more, Boaz instructed his workers in the way he wanted them to welcome and accept her.
15As 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.”
This verse is essentially Boaz saying, "Look guys, she may not do things the way that we do them, but don't make fun of her or yell at her for doing it incorrectly. Instead, make things a little easier for her to catch on to and don't give her a hard time about it in the process."
Welcome, Ruth. Welcome, outsider. We're not going to make you feel bad for being different, we're going to embrace you and show you that we understand that you are equal. I can't help but think of my friends on HNGR and the way they've been accepted into communities across the globe. Welcome, student. Eat with us, live with us, worship with us, work with us, become one of us. Welcome.
Ruth is full of amazing truths, themes, and details that point to Christ. I believe that this is one of them. I believe that Christian hospitality doesn't exclusively mean accepting people from our culture who fit easily into our churches, workplaces, or homes. It means accepting the outsider, welcoming him or her to our table, making room for him or her in our workplaces, and providing community in our churches. I believe that I have a lot to learn and I am thankful for the mercy of God in the process.
