It was a hot afternoon in Bethlehem. As Ruth stood in the doorway, she could see the fields of barley, with the sheaves standing golden brown in the hot sun. As she put her hand over her face to shield it from the sun, she could see men and women bent over, gathering the barley.
Bethlehem … the name meant "House of Bread". It was time for the barley harvest, and soon there would be bushels of barley set aside to be winnowed later. After the barley was safely harvested and locked away where bugs and small animals could not destroy it, then it would be time to harvest the wheat. There would be plenty of grain this year to make bread for the people.
But Bethlehem had not always lived up to its name. Once upon a time, there had been a famine in the land, and Naomi and her husband Elimilech and their two sons Mahlon and Killion had left their home in Bethlehem to live in Moab. Their sons married women named Orpha and Ruth. But after several years Elimilech died, and so did his two sons.
As she stood looking out, Ruth remembered the trip back to Bethlehem. Naomi had set out with her two daughters-in-law to go back to her own homeland. But after a little while, Naomi urged the two women to turn around. "Go back to Moab," she said, " and live with your mothers. I hope God will bless you for treating me and your dead husbands well, and I hope you will soon find new husbands."
Ruth and Orpha cried and refused to go, but when Naomi insisted Orpha kissed her mother-in-law and turned to go. "Look, Ruth, your sister-on-law is going home. Why don't you go with her?" Naomi asked.
"Don't make me leave you," Ruth pleaded, clinging to her mother-in-law. Wherever you go, I will go. Your home will be my home, and your God will be my God. And wherever you die, I want to be buried, too.
So they journeyed on to Bethlehem together. When they got there, all the people of the town were talking among themselves. "Can this really be Naomi after all this time?"
But Naomi's reply was sad. "Don't call me Naomi, because that name means "pleasant" Call me Mara instead. It fits me better, because that means bitter. After all this time I have come home with nothing! God has left me empty and sad. "
So Naomi was back home with her foreign daughter-in-law. But now they needed to find a way to feed themselves.
"I'm going out to work," Ruth said to Naomi. "I can glean among the sheaves of barley, going behind some worker who will treat me kindly."
"Go ahead, daughter," said Naomi.
Out in the fields Ruth worked hard, following after the harvesters. Soon she was working in a part of the field owned by a man named Boaz. And as it happened, Boaz soon came out to the field.
"God be with you!" Boaz called out to his workers.
"God bless you!" they replied.
Then Boaz turned to the worker who was in charge, and said, " Who is that young woman?"
"She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab", he said. "She asked if she could glean, and she's been on her feet working since early morning, without resting even for a moment."
Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to the young women who work for me. Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped , and follow closely behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go and get some water from the water jars."
Ruth fell down on her knees. She kept her face down and did not look at Boaz. "Why have you noticed me, a foreigner?"
Boaz said," I have heard all the things you have done for your mother-in-law since her husband died — how you left your parents and your own country and came to a foreign land, to a people you did not know before. May God reward you for what you have done! May you find shelter under God's wings!"
Then Ruth said, " I hope you continue to think well of me. Even though I am not one of your servants, you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me."
When it was time to eat, Boaz said to Ruth, "Come here and eat some of this bread. Dip it in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers. Boaz handed her some roasted grain, and she ate until she was full. There was even some grain left over.
When she got up to go back to the field, Boaz said to his young men, "Let her glean even among the sheaves where there's still plenty of grain. And you can even pull some of the grain out of the sheaves so she can get it. "
Ruth gleaned until it was evening. When she threshed out the grain she had gathered, it was a big full bag of barley. She picked it up and carried the heavy bag into town.
When she got home she showed Naomi what she had gathered and gave her the roasted grain left over from her lunch.
"Where did you glean today?" Naomi asked her, "God bless the man who let you gather this much grain!"
"His name is Boaz," Ruth told her.
" Why, God bless him!" said Naomi, "and blessed be God! It looks like God has not forgotten us after all!" Then Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was one of their relatives.
"He even told me to stay close to his servants until the harvest was over, " Ruth said.
"Well, that's a good idea! "said Naomi. "Stay close to his servants — the young women, that is. That way you'll stay safe."
So Ruth did as Naomi had suggested, and stayed close to the young women workers until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. The sun was hot, and the work was very hard, but Ruth and Naomi had plenty of food to eat. Bethlehem was truly the House of Bread for Ruth and Naomi.
-based on Ruth 2.
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