This is the Bible Book Club. And we're so excited to be in one of my favorite books, The Book of Ruth.

Welcome to the club.

In chapter one of Ruth, the widow Naomi, leaves the Moabite town where they're living with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, and they

arrive in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, and they must find a way to survive. Ironically,

the House of Bread is in the harvest season, unlike Moab, where they just came, which was in

a famine. Yep, and hint, hint, there is more than bread in the works. The Bread of Life is going to be

one generation closer by the end of this book. So this episode is called Ruth steps out and

Boaz steps up. Chapter 2 is loaded with five scenes. All are different conversations between

the three main characters, Naomi, Ruth, and Boas.

For all his importance, the author introduces him very nonchalantly in the first verse.

Chapter 2. Now, Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, a man of standing from the clan of

Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. While Ruth is clearly the

main hero of this book, because it's named after her, there is another hero, Boaz. This one

sentence introduction to Chapter 2 is a plot prep because there are two things we need to know.

Boas is a man of standing, or in Hebrew, Hale.

Now, Hale means more than the English translation of man of standing.

Here we go again, like has said.

It implies moral and ethical excellence, but can also indicate wealth, virtue, strength, courage, social standing,

and even like warlike heroics kind of thing. It's a great word and one that will be very

deliberately used three times in the book of Ruth. Here, it describes Boas, who is wealthy,

and we will soon see moral and ethical.

It will be used in chapter three to describe Ruth, who is not wealthy, but is virtuous and courageous.

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