Ruth and Boaz”
Ruth 2:8-13
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his
wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name
Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. Later Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two
sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. About ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion
also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her
daughters-in-law prepared to return home to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back,
each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another
husband.” Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law
is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” But Ruth replied, “Where you go I will go, and where you
stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. So the two women went on until they came to
Bethlehem.
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz. Ruth said to Naomi, “Let
me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go
ahead, my daughter.” So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found
herself working in a field belonging to Boaz. Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, and
Boaz asked, “Whose young woman is that?” The foreman replied, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab
with Naomi. So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away
from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the
girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the
men have filled.” At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why have I found such favor in
your eyes that you notice me — a foreigner?”
Later Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she
gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a
kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi
took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named
him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This song takes us back in time with the melancholy sounds of the harmonica and violin portraying the sadness of
Naomi, who suffered the loss of her husband and two sons. The beautiful melodies also stir the imagination of our hearts
with romance and love for the relationship between Ruth and Boaz. The Djembe is the main percussion instrument used .
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in
another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls.
I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and
get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why
have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me — a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I've been told all about what you have done for your
mother-in-law since the death of your husband — how you left your father
and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not
know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done.
May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel,
under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have
given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant — though I do not
have the standing of one of your servant girls.”
NIV
