“So she set out, arrived at the field and gleaned behind the reapers. She happened to be in the part of the field that belonged to Bo‘az from Elimelekh’s clan, when Boaz arrived from Beit-Lechem. He said to the reapers, ‘YEHOVAH be with you’; and they answered him, ‘YEHOVAH bless you.‘”-Ruth 2:3-4
Although Ruth had no idea that divine providence was at work in her life, it was the Lord who had led her to glean in Boaz’s field.
Notice it says Ruth came to the “part of the field” owned by Boaz.
In those days it was normal to have one field shared by several farmers.
A farmer would take ownership of one small part of a big field and plant his crops there.
Sometimes rocks were set up to serve as boundary markers.
But not always.
I used to visit Europe to see my father during the summer vacations (my parents divorced when I was 3) and one thing I remember is how plots of land were separated by these tall walls of bushes.
Well this sort of thing doesn’t exist in Israel.
If you travel to Israel today you’ll see rock fences set up in a lot of the hilly areas there.
But those fences aren’t boundary markers.
Instead, they were set up to keep rocks from rolling downhill and hurting folks walking down below.
Onwards.
So Ruth is busy gleaning away when Boaz arrives at the scene.
He greets the reapers by saying “YHVH be with you”.
And they respond by saying “YHVH be with you”.
Okay, let’s just stop right here for a second.
So we can see that God’s people actually used God’s personal Name and said it out loud in their greetings to each other...
If that’s the case, I betcha they also used the Lord’s Name in their prayers as well….
Instead of generic terms like “God”, “Lord”, “Adonai” or “HaShem”.
There is actually a sound Torah basis for this.
Check out these verses from the book of Exodus:
“Then said Moses to ELOHIM,
‘Suppose I come to the
children of Israel and say to them,
‘The ELOHIM of your fathers has sent me to you,’
and they say to me,
‘What is His name?’
What should I tell them?’
And said ELOHIM to Moses,
“Ey-h Asher Ey-h’ (‘I am who I am’).
Thus shall you say to the Children of Israel,
Ey-h has sent me to you’ ”
And ELOHIM also said to Moses,
“Thus shall you say to the Children of Israel, ‘
YEHOVAH (El-hei) of your fathers,
the ELOHIM of Abraham,
the ELOHIM of Isaac
and the ELOHIM of Jacob has sent me to you’.
This is My name forever and
this is my memorial to all generations“.
-Exodus 3:13-15
Despite tradition that says we should replace the name of YEHOVA with some generic word like ‘God’, the truth is that only happened because of political suppression.
In ancient times, a group of folks called the Hellenists prohibited the Hebrews from saying God’s personal Name out loud in the Temple (thanks for pointing this out Lucy!).
Let me close with another interesting insight.
Remember the events of Ruth occurred during the dark days of the Judges.
Yet we can see from the exchange of greetings using the Lord’s Holy Name between Boaz and his field workers that Beit-Lechem was an exception.
The people there were true worshippers.
They had made the difficult decision to dedicate themselves to the pure and holy ways of YEHOVAH rather than fall prey to the rampant apostasy that had taken over the rest of Israel during this time.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
As I’ve said before, the world we’re living in right now is pretty much a replay of the era of the Judges…
Heck, I’d say things are much worse compared to back then…
During these times of spiritual rebellion, you really only have two choices.
You can choose the ways of the world which the Bible tells us is passing away with all of its lusts thereof…
Or you can choose to walk the narrow path that few find but leads to life…
Choose wisely because your eternal destiny is at stake here.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is
the road that leads to destruction,
and many enter through it.
But small is the gate
and narrow the road
that leads to life,
and only a few find it.”
-Matthew 7:13-14
“Do not love the world
or the things of the world.
If someone loves the world,
then love for the Father is not in him;
because all the things of the world —
the desires of the old nature,
the desires of the eyes,
and the pretensions of life —
are not from the Father
but from the world.
And the world is passing away,
along with its desires.
But whoever does God’s
will remains forever.”
-1 John 2:15-17
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