The Foreign Gleaner, Boaz and Safety

"And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz." Ruth asks to go and glean "after him in whose sight I shall find grace." "And her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz."

Boaz comes from Bethlehem: "The LORD be with you." "The LORD bless thee." "Whose damsel is this?" The overseer answers: "It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi," who asked to glean and has worked since morning.

"Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field… abide here fast by my maidens… have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink." She bows to the ground: "Why have I found grace in thine eyes… seeing I am a stranger?" "It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law… 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."

Gleaning law

Ruth is all three: stranger, widow, and (in effect) without family support. Gleaning gave a right to gather what was left, not a share of the harvest. Laws show what was required, not that every landowner obeyed; Naomi's fear for Ruth in another field (2:22) suggests that not all did.

Protection

Boaz's order that the young men not "touch" her, and Naomi's relief that Ruth will not be "met" (harmed) in another field, show the danger a foreign woman alone in the fields faced. Boaz offers safety, water and inclusion, not just politeness.

A mighty man of wealth

Gibbor ḥayil can mean a warrior, but here it describes social standing and capacity: a man of substance. Ruth is later called an eshet ḥayil, "a woman of worth" (3:11), the same phrase as Proverbs 31:10.

The Mesad Hashavyahu ostracon (late 7th century BC) records a harvest worker's complaint that his garment was taken by an overseer, a rare glimpse of harvest labor and its injustices.