Ruth Encounters Kindness

A refreshing breeze swept through the barley field, sending bits of grain swirling into the air, alive with the scent of damp earth and wild herbs edging the field. Ruth stretched out her back and wiped the bits of grain clinging to the sweat on her face and neck with her apron. A man, wearing fine linen robes with a leather belt and sandals, and having a neatly trimmed beard, was speaking with the workers. The children ran to him with open arms, and the youth stood to greet him as he approached. Bits of conversation flew on the breeze. “The Lord be with you.”

 “And with you.”

He turned toward her. She felt his gaze and quickly returned to gathering the stalks of grain.

“The Lord be with you,” he said.

“And with you!”

“May I speak with you?”

Ruth straightened up, her head bowed.

“This is my field,” he said. “Stay and work here. Watch the other young woman; remain with them, and you won’t wander from my fields. I have also told those young men to leave you alone. If you get thirsty, drink from the jars they have filled.”

Ruth fell on her face, bowing to the ground.

“Why are you being so kind to me, a lowly foreigner?” she asked.

“I have heard everything about you. The women in the village can’t stop talking about your dedication to Naomi since Mahlon died. Then, to leave your home and come here, that took courage.”

Then he encouraged Ruth to stand. As he looked into her downcast eyes, he said, “The Lord repay you for your diligence, a full reward, from the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you now dwell.”

Ruth looked up. “I hope to find favour in your eyes my Lord, since you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me even though I am not one of your maidservants.”

The landowner nodded with a smile and moved on while Ruth bent over to gather more stems and stood twenty cubits tall in spirit.

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