The Lord recompense:
God rewards those who faithfully exercise their duty to serve him. The scriptures tell us that God is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him (Heb 11:6). When we seek to serve God, and not as man pleasers, then it is when the rewards come. Jesus told a multitude of followers that they sought after him for the bread and the fish, not because of his divinity (Jn 6:26). The Story of Ruth is a powerful tale about redemption. It is the story about the people of God and the adopted people. The Bible tells us that God came to save his people, that through them we might be saved too (Gal 4:5-6). Noami was Ruth and Orpah’s mother-in-law, and her husband and two sons died. Noami is a symbol of the Children of Israel, as Ruth is of the church. During a great famine, these three ladies became widows. Noami heard that the Lord had visited his people in Judah with bread and decided to go back home. She dismissed both of her daughter-in-laws, but Ruth refused to leave Naomi, because she was old. We read Ruth’s famous words in Chapter 1:16-17, where she inserts herself into Naomi’s family, the Children of Israel.
Ruth 2:12-14
12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
13 Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.
14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
When they went back home, Ruth went to work in the fields alongside the reapers. Now, reapers were those who gathered the crop in the fields, and metaphorically, they are the gatherers of souls who are making it ready for judgment day. Jesus called reapers angels in the parable of the sower (Mt 13:39). Boaz, little did Ruth know, was Naomi’s relative from her husband’s side. Boaz represents a redeemer from the lineage of Christ. He decided to send the blessing to Ruth. Boaz gave orders to the reapers to drop sheaves for her to pick up (Rt 2:15). The Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed insisted that Jesus liberate her. After Jesus tells her that the food of the children cannot be given to dogs, she tells him that the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the master’s table (Mt 15:21).
Boaz invites Ruth to break bread and eat with him at mealtime. Jesus did the same with the disciples when they were at the table. He took the bread and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. He told them that that bread was his body, which was about to be broken for them (Mt 26:26-28). Jesus did the same with the cup. Ruth sat next to the reapers the same way as the church sits next to the reapers gathering for judgment day.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
John 6:26
26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Galatians 4:5-6
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Ruth 1:16-17
16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Matthew 13:39
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Ruth 2:15
15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
Matthew 15:21
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Matthew 26:26-28
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.