May the Lord repay you for what you have done

 Ruth 2:1-17

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” 

Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

There were not many ways for widows to earn a living, and Ruth and Naomi were poor. But the law laid down that the gleanings of the harvest must be left for the needy. By 'chance' in the common open field, Ruth gleans in the part belonging to Boaz, Elimelech's kingsman. His kindness goes far beyond the law's demands. 

Why?

It is the mercy of the Lord who asked Moses made this law that the harvester have to lay down the gleanings of the harvest must be left for the needy.

It is so good chance that Ruth came to the field of Boaz to put up the leftover grain. We will say it is lucky, but all of these are the arrangement of the Lord, like take a lot!

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路得的信心，及神對路得的回應！

路得在第一章說出信心的宣告或是信仰告白，有了信仰告白而且有實際行動。

憑著信心出去拾取麥穗，雖然律法有規定，但是一般田地主人通常不願意其他人來撿。去那裏?人家是否願給她撿?是否會被排擠，又是外地來的。

凡信祂的人必不羞愧，應驗在路得身上，神為路得開路。看似恰巧，其實是神的安排。

波阿斯是大財主，不但不欺壓人，反而敬畏神、恩待僕人。他向他的僕人問安。波阿斯慷慨且謙卑，他知道這些都是神的恩典。他甚至於多走二里路。甚至從綑中抽出來放在地上給路得撿。路得跟本不好意思去綑中的麥子。波阿斯不僅對路得，也很照顧他的僕人，供應僕人們生活的需要。路得可以喝僕人打的水。僕人們不會爭，不會強，自然也不會排擠其他人。

拾麥穗更是讓人撿的有面子。這是聖經中唯一一個以撿拾麥穗為背景的故事。撿拾麥穗的律法為路得開路。這件事竟然與彌賽亞的出生有密切相關。

神所定的計劃、律法等都是與救恩有關係。萬事互相效力，為了預備救恩。

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How?

A good woman met a right man in this world, this is the grace of the Lord! Praise to the Lord!