From bringing dinner to a friend who is ill to packing boxes for a ministry such as Feed My Starving Children, there are many ways we can serve others through the gift of food. Providing a meal for someone in need is certainly one of the most tangible ways we can demonstrate hesed to the people in our lives.

As we follow the story of Ruth and Boaz, we see this same type of generosity. When it was time for the midday meal, Boaz called to Ruth, “Come over here” (v. 14). She was likely keeping an appropriate distance until he surprisingly summoned her. The fact that Boaz ate with his workers showed his care for them. And when he invited this foreign stranger to join them, they were likely surprised. In ancient Israel, meals were about more than just filling the stomach. A shared meal was an act of hospitality.

Boaz instructed Ruth to enjoy the bread dipped in wine vinegar. He offered her nothing less than the best. After he served her the roasted grain himself. Ruth “ate all she wanted and had some left over” (v. 14). This detail demonstrates once again Boaz’s extraordinary compassion and generosity.

As Ruth returned to the fields, Boaz continued his care. Hesed upon hesed. First, he ordered his workers to care for Ruth psychologically—not to shame her in any way. Then, he instructed them to pull out extra stalks of grain and leave them for Ruth (vv. 15–16). This treatment would have been an unheard-of blessing.

This incredible scene ends with a simple summary of Ruth’s day. “So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening” (v. 17). This moment is pregnant with irony. Ruth must have been stunned by the extraordinary favor she received from Boaz. But she was still unaware of his full redemptive significance.

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