A. Ruth Goes Out to Glean (2:1-3)

Ch. 2 opens with an additional bit of background information necessary for the full impact of the story. Naomi had an in-law named Boaz, a man of considerable means and reputation. (The significance of his name is uncertain. See commentaries.)

V.2 provides insight into the OT’s provisions for the very poor. During the harvest period, a farmer was prohibited from reaping his field to the edges and gathering the leftover sheaves (Lev 19:9; 23:22). These were left for the needy. Ruth, as the younger of the two, nobly volunteers to go into the fields to collect what she can. It just so happened (niv “As it turned out”), Ruth worked in the field of Boaz that day. This phrase in v.3 makes it clear that Ruth was unaware of the significance of the “chance” encounter about to be described. At the same time, the author is driving home his point that God was at work behind apparently insignificant events.