Title At mealtime
Ruth 2:14-16
As they were eating, Boaz said to Ruth, "Come here, eat bread, and dip your bread in candles." Ruth sat down by the reapers, and he gave her roasted grain, and Ruth was satisfied and she ate and had leftovers. As Ruth got up to glean, Boaz And he commanded his young men, saying, Let him glean from among the sheaves, and do not rebuke them, and pluck for him little by little, let him gather, and do not rebuke him.
The text can be divided into three parts. The first part is the first half of verse 14, where the kindness that Boaz showed to Ruth is recorded, the second part is the second part of verse 14, the reaction of Ruth to Boaz' kindness, and the third part, verses 15 and 16. This is what Boaz instructed the workers to do.
It was a fun meal. In verse 14, we look at the kindness that Boaz showed to Ruth.
2:14, "As they were eating, Boaz said to Ruth, "Come here and eat bread, and dip your bread in the candles." Ruth sat down with the reapers, and he gave her roasted grain, and Ruth was satisfied and had leftovers."
Boaz invited Ruth to a meal. Judging from the fact that Ruth sat next to the cutler, it is likely that this meal was shared with Boaz and the workers. In the first half of verse 14, there are three menus at mealtime. Rice cakes, vinegar, and roasted grains. Bread is the staple food of the Israelites. Cho means fresh wine. If you dip the rice cake in this vinegar, the rice cake becomes soft.
It was when Jesus was crucified. In the agony of crucifixion, Jesus said that he was thirsty. At that time, people gave Jesus this very new wine.
John 19:28-30, "After that, Jesus knew that all things had already been accomplished, so that the scriptures might fulfill him, saying, "I am thirsty." There was a vessel full of fresh wine. They tied it up and brought it to Jesus' mouth, and after receiving the sour wine, Jesus said to him, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and died."
Along with bread, roasted grain is also an important food for the Israelites. Find such an example in the Bible.
1 Samuel 17:17, "And Jesse said to his son David, "Take an ephah of this roasted grain and ten loaves of this loaf for your brothers, and go quickly into the camp and give it to your brothers."
1 Samuel 25:18, "Abigail hurriedly took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep prepared for slaughter, five sheaves of roasted grain, a hundred raisins, and two hundred bunches of figs, and loaded them on the donkeys."
2 Samuel 17:28, "The bed and the basin and the earthenware and the wheat and the barley and the wheat flour and the roasted grain and the beans and the red beans and the roasted green beans."
The kindness Boaz showed to Ruth can be seen from the verb. "Come here," "Eat," "Take a picture." "Give me roasted grain." I hope that you will have many people like Boaz who show such kindness by your side.
The second half of verse 14 shows how Ruth reacts to Boaz's words.
“Ruth sat down by the reaper, and he gave her roasted grain, and Ruth was satisfied and had leftovers.”
When Boaz showed kindness, Ruth received it with gratitude. It wasn't a "no" rejection.
Also in verse 13, Ruth was grateful for the grace that Boaz had given him.
"Ruth said, "My lord, I want to find favor with you."
It means to be grateful for the kindness you have given me.
Where did Ruth sit? He did not sit beside Boaz, neither among the slayers, nor by the slayer. Ruth knew how to keep her position.
Boaz gave him roasted grain. As a result, Ruth was satisfied. How satisfied were you? When you were thirsty, you drank water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem. How cool must it have been? Let me ask you a question. “Who would be more satisfied with a man with ten sons or a man with a billion dollars?” The answer is a man with ten sons. Why? Because I don't want to have ten sons anymore. But even if you have billions of money, you are not satisfied. Satisfaction means that you can stop now. Gratitude is possible when you feel satisfied. Be satisfied with even the smallest things and be grateful.
“Ruth was full and had leftovers.”
Ruth went to the bountiful table that Boaz had given her and ate and was satisfied. Think about the work that Jesus did in the field of Bethsaida. The people who had gathered in the field of Bethsaida ate and had leftovers. How much did you say left?
Luke 9:17, "They ate and were full, and they gathered twelve baskets of leftover pieces."
Our God gives such overflowing blessings to those who attend the ceremony.
What did Ruth do with the leftovers?
2:18, "They ate when they were full, and gave what was left over to her mother-in-law."
Ruth ate her fill and packed up the leftovers. It was a heart for the poor mother-in-law. How beautiful is Ruth's heart for the poor and pitiful Naomi.
After eating, Boaz gives instructions to the workers.
2:15-16, "When Ruth was getting up to glean, Boaz commanded his boys, saying, Let him glean from among the sheaves, and do not reprove him, nor do he pluck little by little out of the hew for him, and let him glean, and do not rebuke him."
"When Ruth got up to glean." Still, Boaz and the workers must have been sitting there. But Ruth got up first. In the meantime, I've been sitting, resting, eating, talking and spending time, so I have to work hard again. How diligent are you? When a person is sincere and diligent, it makes people want to help others. But when you see a lazy person, you want to help, but that heart disappears. Like Ruth, you must be a zealous and diligent person. We are tired, but when we wake up early in the morning and cling to the Lord and pray, how beautiful will God look at us? God will have mercy on us and will naturally want to help.
When Ruth got up to glean, compassion developed in Boaz's heart. So Boaz gave orders to his boys and to the workers.
"Let him gather from among the sheaves."
It is forbidden to glean among the sheaf of grain. But Boaz was the owner of the field, so he gave the owner permission to glean from among the sheaves. And he told him not to rebuke Ruth. Boaz goes one step further and gives these instructions:
"Pull out for him little by little from the handful, and let him gather, and do not rebuke him."
He told Ruth to deliberately remove the ears of grain from the altar so that she could gather enough. He also said, "Do not rebuke Ruth for her work." So Ruth picked up a day, but looking at verse 17, it said that it was an ephah. One Eva is equivalent to half a month's wages of people at the time. It was because of Boaz's kindness.
I hope that there are many people around you who show kindness like Boas. At the same time, I hope that you too will be kind to others, like Boas.
Finally, read Luke 10:30 et seq.
“Jesus answered and said to them, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and met a robber, and the robbers took off his clothes and beat him, and left him completely dead. When you get there, see him, and run away from him."
The priest and the Levite saw a man hit by a robber. But I saw it and ran away. On the one hand, the actions of the priests and Levites are understandable. Because the priests and the Levites are the people who hold holy offices in the temple. At that time, people considered it unclean to touch a corpse. If you touch a corpse and become unclean, you cannot bear the precious responsibility given to you. "I have a responsibility to serve God, but I must not touch the body." And then it just passed. If you think about it from the people's point of view, it's understandable. Continue reading.
Luke 10:33, "There was a certain Samaritan on his journey, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him."
The Samaritan also saw him. I saw it, but the reaction was different. The priest and the Levite saw him and ran away, but the Samaritan saw him and took pity on him. Who does Jesus want you to be like? He tells us to be like the Samaritans. See and have pity on you. The priests and Levites saw the sight, but were not trained to be compassionate. We must be able to see and pity ourselves like the Samaritans. You must be trained to be compassionate.
Just as God has compassion when he sees us, whenever we see others, we should have compassion like the Samaritans. May you always have compassion for your neighbors.