Leviticus 23:22 “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Ruth 2:7 She (Ruth) said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”

Ruth 2 contains a revealing attitude about Naomi in her plight. She has lost a husband and 2 sons and is bitter. Ruth comes to the harvest fields and asks permission to glean for Naomi.

The opportunity to glean is dependent on the workers obedience to the Lord their God as instructed in Leviticus 23:22. If they had not obeyed the word of the Lord, gleaning would not be possible. One might view this as being faithful to God and not a view of the plight of the needy.

Ruth 2:14-16 English Standard Version

14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

Something in Boaz went beyond what was required by edict, and had compassion for this stranger.

Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”

Note the inclusion of Ruth in her comment “a close relative of ours”. Ruth is included in her family, not just a stranger. This is important in viewing how Rauth might be offered protection. This is played out in the next two verses as Boaz tells her to stay in his fields in order to avoid being assaulted.

This is noteworthy as mere obedience does not in and of itself demand compassion. That comes with character which is built into us as children of God. 

In chapter 3 Naomi tells Ruth how to act towards a redeemer which was not part of her Moabite culture. She obeys Naomi and it pays off.

Ruth 3:10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

Genesis 19:30-38 English Standard Version

Lot and His Daughters

30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

This was the source of this edict. Deuteronomy 23:3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever,”

Matthew 1:5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

Ruth, a Moabite, is in the lineage of Jesus just three generations before King David. Did Boaz violate an edict from Moses? Ruth was the daughter by law of Naomi who was of the tribe of Benjamin. Since Ruth rejected her lineage and clung to Naomi, was she still a Moabite?

Perhaps Boaz had a different point of view because his mother was Rahab, the harlot from Joshua 2:1. She was saved in the collapse of Jericho because she helped two spies by hiding them in accordance with Joshua 6:17.

The source of our opinions are many and before we go about name calling, perhaps we should understand their history. Remember our Lord was called a blasphemer by the Pharisees. John the Baptist called them vipers, that was ugly.

Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”

At least when Jesus called them hypocrites, He gave examples of their offenses.