Ruth 2:22

Seeing Ruth's steadfast determination, Naomi allows her to accompany her. The two women arrive in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Their arrival causes a stir in the small town, and the local women ask, "Is this Naomi?" Embittered by her tragic losses, Naomi tells them not to call her Naomi (which means "pleasant") but to call her Mara (which means "bitter"), "for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." She feels she went away full but has returned empty, a sentiment that sets the stage for the story of redemption that is to follow. Ruth 2: Ruth Finds Favor in the Field of Boaz To support herself and Naomi, Ruth asks for permission to go and glean in the fields, gathering the leftover grain after the harvesters, a practice provided for the poor in the Mosaic Law. By what appears to be chance, but is guided by divine providence, she ends up in a field belonging to Boaz, a wealthy and respected man who happens to be a relative of Naomi's late husband, Elimelech. Boaz arrives to oversee his harvest and immediately notices the foreign woman working in his field. He asks his foreman about her and is told she is the Moabitess who returned with Naomi. Impressed by what he has already heard of Ruth's loyalty to her mother-in-law, Boaz approaches her with exceptional kindness. He tells her to glean only in his field, to stay close to his female workers for her protection, and to drink from the water his men have drawn. He invites her to share a meal with him and his workers and secretly instructs his men to pull out extra stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them for her to gather. That evening, Ruth returns to Naomi with a surprisingly large amount of barley. When Naomi learns that Ruth has been gleaning in the field of Boaz, she is filled with hope. She recognizes Boaz as one of their kinsman-redeemers—a relative who has the right and responsibility to redeem the family's property and, in this case, to marry Ruth to continue the family line.