“Then Bo‘az asked his servant supervising the reapers, ‘Whose girl is this?’ The servant supervising the reapers answered, “She’s a girl from Mo’av who returned with Na‘omi from the plain of Mo’av.”-Ruth 2:5-6
Words have power…
And some words have more power than others…
Consider the question Boaz asked the man supervising his workers when he inquired who is this “girl”?
Now to us, the word “girl” is as generic and plain as a word can be.
It’s simply a gender specification that doesn’t tell us much of anything.
Are we talking about a young girl (like under 12), a teenager or someone who has left her father’s house and is now in the workforce?
Unless we’re given more information, we don’t know right?
Well, that’s not the case with the Hebrew word for girl that Boaz used when he asked his question.
The Hebrew word being used here is NA’ARAH or נַעֲרָה.
Now here’s the thing…
This word can only refer to one type of girl…
And that’s a girl who is living under someone’s authority.
She could still be living in her father’s home.
Or she could be a servant or even a concubine.
This word would NEVER be used to refer a married woman or a woman who used to be married but lost her husband due to tragic circumstances…
Which as we all know was the case with Ruth.
We can also see the word NA’ARAH was all about how Boaz viewed Ruth and not the actual reality of her situation.
Isn’t it amazing how one little word can carry so much power and open up worlds of revelation?
Incidentally, NA’ARAH is used exactly 63 times in the Hebrew Bible.
For example, Esther in the Bible is also referred to as a NA’ARAH.
Onward.
There’s one another interesting point which leads to our takeaway that I wanna point out.
We see that without a moment’s hesitation the field supervisor was able to answer Boaz’s question and tell him Ruth was the girl from Moab.
This lets us know that in this small town of Bethlehem nothing happened without anybody else knowing about it.
We can see that Ruth and Naomi were well known among the local folks there.
And that even Boaz (who is a symbolic savior figure in this story) took notice of the poor and insignificant Ruth
So the takeaway I feel the Lord communicating to me here is this:
Nothing goes unnoticed among our Savior’s creation and His Kingdom.
The good deeds you do that you think go unnoticed ARE NOTICED by our Father in Heaven.
What you do in the dark will eventually be brought to light…
Whether good or bad…
So do good…
Because in due time, you will reap what you sow.
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