Under His Wings

Ruth 2:12. When Boaz learns who the young woman gleaning in his field is, he does not simply allow her to stay. He prays for her. May the Lord repay what you have done, and may you be fully rewarded by the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

The image is of a bird sheltering its young. Ruth had left everything familiar and placed herself under the protection of a God she had only recently claimed as her own. Boaz sees that clearly and names it.

There is a quiet irony that the reader is meant to catch. Boaz asks God to reward Ruth, and God will do it partly through Boaz himself. In the next chapter Ruth will ask him to spread the corner of his garment over her, using the same Hebrew word as wings. The prayer becomes the man's own task.

When you pray for someone today, be ready. God often answers through the one who asked. The shelter of his wings is real, and it frequently has a human shape.