by Marilyn Ehle
“Now Naomi had a relative…whose name was Boaz.” Ruth 2:1
“I know the plans I have for you…” Jeremiah 29:11
The Hebrew storyteller weaves a fascinating tale while exploring the lives of two remarkable women, Naomi and Ruth. While many primarily interpret the Old Testament book of Ruth as a Barbara Cartland romance, it is more profoundly a recounting of God’s grace and goodness.
The story begins—as all great stories begin—with fascinating characters and superbly crafted conflict which the reader trusts will be overcome. Famine, untimely death, poverty, hopeless situations. While we’ve been told that the two primary characters are back home, we really don’t know if they will live or die. All we know is that two destitute women must find some way to prevent their own starvation. We’re told they reach their destination “as the barley harvest was beginning…”
But how to get the grain picked, winnowed, roasted and eaten when they have no resources? Ruth, the younger woman, the one with more strength and energy, simply asks that she be allowed to become a common gleaner in the harvest field. For a young single woman without social or physical protection, her choice of activity is dangerous. Readers wonder if our heroine will make it through to the end of the story.
But God puts one of His famous parentheses into the narrative. Before reading Ruth’s suggestion that she go into the fields, we read, Now Naomi had a relative…whose name was Boaz, a seemingly incidental hint—to what we will eventually discover is the key to the entire chronicle.
How often we go through our days unaware that God has long before laid out a plan for our joy, provision for our journey and satisfaction for our deepest desires. He merely asks us to confidently walk through the daily realities, thanking Him for what we can already see, expectantly anticipating what is not yet visible. We reap in our barley fields and leave the rest of the story to Him.
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