“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my Lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

–Parallel Verses
Leviticus‬ ‭25‬:‭25‬-‭28‬ [God speaking]
“‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.”

I can only imagine the look on Naomi’s face to hear that of all the fields Ruth could have gone to glean, she went to the field of Boaz, a close relative and guardian-redeemer for her people. This passage refers back to the delivery of the law under Moses when the Lord established the Year of Jubilee and the position of guardian-redeemer. The year of Jubilee is every 50 years. The Jews would rest their land from production every 7 years (a Sabbath year), and after 7 sets of 7 years, or 49 years, a year of Jubilee would be declared. In this year, all land sold in the past would return to its original family. As well, if a family became poor and had to sell their land at any time, then their closest relative would become their guardian-redeemer. Their job was to try and purchase the land back and return it to the family that lost it. So we can see God’s GRACE and MERCY build into the Judaic law from the beginning! He wanted family units to remain intact, and for this reason he set these laws up, for them to work together.

Back to Naomi, the one who wanted to be called Mara, as she was so bitter at God’s judgment on her. I can imagine, at this news, a light started to shine in her life. A light out of the pain and loss she experienced. She could see God’s hand guiding Ruth to the right field and helping her gain favor with the right man. Hope may have started a resurgence in her heart.

Has “Hope in God” left you at some point? Has life disappointed you beyond belief and you just wrote off God or resigned to have a difficult, meaningless life? The story of Naomi is a story of renewed hope and we see the beginning of it now. It reminds me of this verse in Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ‭‭(Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬)

Lord, thank you for the story of Naomi. I cannot think of too many people who have experienced more heartache or pain than she did. And you still planned for her good in the end, and we see the beginning of that in how you are guiding Ruth. Teach me to expand and deepen my faith in you. I receive this truth about your faithfulness today. Thank you Father!