Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Ruth
Chapter 2: Under Whose Wings Thou Art Come to Trust
A destitute widow, a foreign woman, goes out to glean in the barley fields, and 'her hap' brings her to the field of Boaz, a mighty man of wealth and a near kinsman. What looks like chance is the quiet hand of God, and in Boaz's grace to a stranger we glimpse the kinsman-redeemer to come, and the wings of the LORD under which the outcast finds refuge.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Ruth chapter 2. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 2 introduces Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer, and unfolds the theme of grace to the undeserving stranger. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Ruth Gleans in the Field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1-7)
The poor widow goes out to glean, and God's unseen hand guides her steps to the very field of a near kinsman.
Her Hap Was to Light on Boaz's Field
"And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house."
Word Study
"her hap was to light," Hebrew vayyiqer miqreha (וַיִּקֶר מִקְרֶהָ), literally "her chance chanced upon." The narrator uses, with gentle irony, the language of coincidence, "as it happened, she happened", precisely to point beyond coincidence to the providence of God. To the human eye Ruth simply wandered into a random field; in truth the LORD was ordering every step. This is how God's providence usually works, not in thunder, but in the quiet arranging of "chance" encounters and ordinary days. "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" (Proverbs 16:9), and "the lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). There is no luck in the life of a child of God. What we call happenstance is the hidden hand of a faithful Father, weaving even a poor widow's gleaning into the line of the Messiah.
Explanation
The chapter opens by introducing Boaz, "a mighty man of wealth," a kinsman of Naomi's dead husband, key words that the story will unfold. Ruth, unwilling to let Naomi starve, humbly asks to go glean, gathering the leftover grain the reapers dropped, a provision God's law made for the poor, the widow, and the stranger (Leviticus 19:9-10). And "her hap" brings her to Boaz's field. When Boaz arrives, his very greeting reveals his character: "The LORD be with you." He notices the diligent stranger at once and asks who she is. Everything is being arranged, Ruth's humility, Boaz's godliness, the providential field, for a redemption none of them yet sees.
Gospel Focus
Ruth's "chance" arrival in the right field is a comfort to every believer who feels their life is a series of accidents. God is not absent from the ordinary; He is superintending it. The same providence that guided a gleaning widow guides you, for "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Ruth did her humble duty, going out to glean, and God met her diligence with His direction. We are called to walk faithfully in the small, obedient steps before us and to trust that the LORD is ordering the outcome. What seems like a dead-end field of poverty, God can make the doorway to redemption.
The Kindness of Boaz (Ruth 2:8-16)
Boaz shows the foreign widow protection, provision, and honor, and blesses her for taking refuge under the wings of the LORD.
Under Whose Wings Thou Art Come to Trust
"Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not."
Word Study
"wings," Hebrew kanaph (כָּנָף), "wing, edge, corner, skirt." Boaz blesses Ruth for coming to trust "under whose wings", the wings of "the LORD God of Israel." The image is of a mother bird sheltering her young, a favorite picture of God's protecting refuge: "he shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust" (Psalm 91:4); "hide me under the shadow of thy wings" (Psalm 17:8). Ruth, a Moabitess with no claim on Israel's God, had fled for refuge under those wings, and Boaz declares that God will reward her. There is a beautiful turn coming: in the next chapter Ruth will ask Boaz himself to spread his "skirt" (the same word, kanaph) over her as her redeemer. The wings of the LORD and the covering of the kinsman-redeemer become one picture, for God shelters His people through the Redeemer. Whoever flees to God's wings, Jew or Gentile, near or far, finds refuge and reward.
Explanation
Boaz treats the destitute foreigner with extraordinary grace. He tells her to glean only in his field, under his protection; he charges the young men not to touch her; he offers her his own water and, at mealtime, his own table and food "till she was sufficed." Ruth, amazed, falls on her face: "Why have I found grace in thine eyes... seeing I am a stranger?" Boaz answers that her love and loyalty to Naomi have been reported to him, and he pronounces a blessing: may the LORD, "under whose wings thou art come to trust," fully reward her. Then he goes further still, secretly commanding his reapers to drop handfuls "on purpose" for her to find. His kindness is not grudging charity but lavish, deliberate grace to one who could never repay it.
Gospel Focus
Boaz is one of the clearest Old Testament pictures of the Lord Jesus. To a poor Gentile stranger with no claim, he shows unearned favor, "Why have I found grace... seeing I am a stranger?", provides abundantly, protects, and welcomes her to his table. So Christ deals with us who "were sometimes far off," Gentiles, "strangers from the covenants," "aliens," and has "made nigh by the blood" and seated us at His table (Ephesians 2:12-13). And the "handfuls on purpose", grain deliberately dropped so Ruth would find more than she gleaned, is a lovely image of grace: God arranges blessings we did not earn and lets us "find" them. When you have received mercy you never deserved, you have tasted the heart of Boaz, and of the greater Redeemer. Fly to the wings of the LORD, and you will find a full reward.
A Redeemer Near of Kin (Ruth 2:17-23)
Ruth brings home an abundance, and Naomi, blessing God, recognizes that Boaz is one of their near kinsmen, a redeemer.
The Man Is Near of Kin Unto Us
"So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law."
Word Study
"next kinsmen," Hebrew goel (גֹּאֵל), "kinsman-redeemer." This is the pivotal word of the whole book. The goel was the near relative whose God-given duty was to redeem, to buy back a kinsman's forfeited land, to ransom a relative sold into slavery, and to raise up an heir for one who died childless (Leviticus 25:25, 47-49; Deuteronomy 25:5-10). To redeem, a goel had to meet three conditions: he must be a near kinsman, he must be able (have the means), and he must be willing. Naomi's words, "the man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen (goel)," light the first spark of hope: there is a redeemer. And the goel is one of Scripture's great pictures of Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, who became our near kinsman by taking flesh ("he also himself likewise took part" of our flesh and blood, Hebrews 2:14), who alone was able, and who was willing to pay the price to buy us back. Job's cry reaches its answer here: "I know that my redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25), where "redeemer" is goel.
Explanation
Ruth's day's gleaning, swelled by Boaz's secret generosity, comes to "about an ephah of barley", perhaps thirty pounds, far more than an ordinary gleaner could gather. She brings it home with the food she had saved from her meal, and Naomi is astonished. When Ruth names Boaz, Naomi's grief lifts for the first time in the book: "Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead." The bitter woman of chapter 1, who felt God's hand against her, now sees His kindness returning. And she reveals the crucial fact: "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen", a goel, a potential redeemer. Ruth keeps gleaning in Boaz's field, safe among his maidens, through the whole harvest. The stage is set for redemption.
Gospel Focus
The moment Naomi says "the man is near of kin," hope enters a story that had been all loss and bitterness. So it is with the gospel: everything changes when we learn there is a Redeemer, near of kin, who can buy back what sin forfeited. We were bankrupt, widowed, exiled, with no power to redeem ourselves, and the good news is that God provided a Kinsman-Redeemer. Jesus became our near kinsman by becoming man, He was able because He was sinless and mighty to save, and He was willing, laying down His life to redeem us not "with corruptible things, as silver and gold," but "with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). Naomi's rising hope is meant to be ours: whatever you have lost, there is a Redeemer near of kin, and He has not left off His kindness to the living and the dead.
Chapter 2 in Review
Ruth 2 turns the story from loss toward hope. The poor widow goes out to glean, and "her hap", the quiet providence of God, brings her to the field of Boaz, a wealthy near kinsman. Boaz shows her extraordinary grace: protection, provision, a place at his table, and handfuls dropped "on purpose," blessing her for taking refuge "under whose wings", the wings of the LORD. Ruth brings home an abundance, and Naomi, her bitterness lifting, blesses God and reveals the key: "the man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen", a redeemer.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter overflows with the gospel. God's providence orders the "chance" steps of a faithful life. Boaz's lavish grace to a Gentile stranger pictures Christ, who welcomes the far-off and the undeserving to His table and covers them with His wings. And the appearing of the goel, the kinsman-redeemer, points straight to Jesus, our near Kinsman, able and willing to buy us back. Where the story was empty and bitter, redemption has drawn near.
- "Her hap" was no accident; God's providence orders the ordinary steps of the faithful.
- Boaz's grace to a Gentile stranger, table, protection, "handfuls on purpose", pictures the grace of Christ.
- Ruth fled "under the wings" of the LORD; all who take refuge in Him, near or far, find reward.
- The goel, kinsman-redeemer, near, able, and willing, is the gospel picture of Jesus, our Redeemer.
Questions for Reflection
- Do you see God's providence in the "ordinary" and "chance" turns of your life, or only look for the dramatic?
- Boaz blessed those who take refuge under God's wings. Have you fled there for shelter yourself?
- Ruth had no power to redeem herself but found a kinsman who could. Have you rested in Christ your Redeemer?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Providence in Ruth's gleaning; the law of gleaning: Ruth 2:1-7; Leviticus 19:9-10; Proverbs 16:9, 33; Romans 8:28.
- Grace to the stranger; refuge under God's wings: Ruth 2:8-16; Psalm 91:4; 17:8; Ephesians 2:12-13.
- The kinsman-redeemer (goel): Ruth 2:17-23; Leviticus 25:25, 47-49; Deuteronomy 25:5-10; Hebrews 2:14; Job 19:25; 1 Peter 1:18-19.