Helping God’s Way

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: And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not (Ruth 2: 15, 16)

Many times we are confused as to how to effectively help the needy. We are at a loss as to how to assist them without lowering their self-esteem. Some of us assume that they enjoy our handouts without realizing that it slowly kills their personhood, their reason for enjoying life.

It is our lack of that that we have many people making begging a business, people who are not needy in the least, only that they are exploiting our ignorance and desire to help to their advantage.

A few months ago a hotelier was being sought by the police for running a begging ring. Yet that was not the really shocking thing as we know many others who do the same thing. He was in the business of going to a neighboring country to import the beggars, people who are physically challenged and then positioning them where they would conveniently look pitifully needy.

I have friends who know of beggars who are landlords and successful businessmen. It is very painful if you realized that you did forego lunch to give this hopeless looking guy only to realize that he is your landlord!

I have tackled the aspect of helping the needy in my book ‘The Road to Sodom’. I just want us to appreciate a Biblical character who helped without appearing to give a handout. He helped without compromising someone’s self-esteem.

Many times we love to be appreciated for helping which is natural to human nature. The problem comes when the craving for attention through appreciation stands in the way of genuine empowerment. Inasmuch as we literally look for ways to be appreciated, especially as people who are genuinely and positively philanthropic, we ought to realize that a handout and empowerment are poles apart. Sometimes it is only possible to empower by literally disappearing into the woodwork. Let the person you are assisting feel good without being able to identify the object of the generosity.

Boaz had the power and responsibility to take enough food for Naomi and Ruth to live on until their harvest the next season. He may have required just a little request for assistance. And we know he was generous. But you see that could have short-circuited the whole process. Had he done that we definitely could not have been reading his story as he could have been the one to disappear into the wood work.

He knew that he was responsible for the two widows. But he also knew that by offering handouts he could have turned the two into beggars, killing their spirits in the process. This especially as they were more like refugees because they had been ten years away from home and so had no stakes in their comeback. They had just left their lands without any leases because you can’t lease land during a drought. They therefore came back hopelessly helpless and hungry.

Any offer for help would therefore have been very welcome to the extent of almost worshipping the giver. I am sure Boaz knew that and was serious enough about God to ever be anywhere near such gratitude. No wonder he turned to the Bible for direction.

You see the Bible had a way for providing for such needs without turning the needy to despondency or begging. The refugees, orphans, widows and the poor could count on the obedience of the community to live a dignified life. How?

When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow (Deuteronomy 24: 21)

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19: 9, 10)

But he also knew that gleaning was not very fruitful as it was more like a gathering of scraps under a table. Harvesters are not allowed to drop anything as they harvest and that was the situation Ruth found herself in before Boaz arrived. And that is what he addressed! Was that not corruption? Some may ask. That was his harvest and like the guy in Christ’s parable he could do whatever he wanted with his harvest.

Ruth may have suspected something but she had no evidence. In any case she was grateful enough to the God she had embraced for making provision for the poor in His commandments to probably think about that in addition to her being the sole breadwinner in that hopeless homestead.

Helping anonymously also dealt with another dilemma. Tongues could have started wagging that he had ‘sighted’ this foreign beauty and was making advances at her through his benevolence. This could have strained his relationship to his wife as I am sure his wife was like other women as far as relationships are concerned. It even could have closed doors to doing what he later did in marrying Ruth because the rumors could have preceded the action.

Another reason we find mention of him, which might be the key reason is that he was not only willing to risk his inheritance and marriage to salvage some poor widows but in being ready to lose his seed for another, and that anonymously.

Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. (Ruth 4: 5, 6)

I am sure we remember Judah’s son.

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. (Genesis 38: 9, 10)

It is not an easy thing to sire and raise a child that will not be yours. Men are usually cheated into raising other men’s children if they are convinced it is theirs. Others are many times bewitched into neglecting their children as they pamper other men’s children. I have never heard of a man who raised his son consciously knowing that he will never be his offspring. It is a hard thing to conceive, yet this is what Boaz did.

Yet that was God’s prescription to such needs in society. What Boaz did is simply what God had commanded. He was simply more honorable because he went the extra mile into his obedience.

Before you shout ‘advantage’ let me also remind you that he was not looking for a fresh wife in the least. When that offer is presented we see him surrendering it to someone else and took it more or less as a last resort. That is honor.

Reminds me of Christ’s words,

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it (Mark 8: 35).

Boaz chose to lose recognition and appreciation. He chose to lose his name in a son he sired and raised. He chose to forego the opportunity to marry a respectable woman. In other words he chose all that we fight to death to accomplish. He would be classified as a fool by some, someone lacking drive and ambition, someone who dumps his name for nothing. He may be called someone who will disappear in the dustbin of history.

Yet what do we see. He actually gains more than he lost. We now read about him. He becomes the ancestor of King David and even Jesus Christ, the desire of the ages. By hiding he was raised to prominence. By losing he gained infinitely more than he chose to lose.

That is a spiritual principle we ought to take serious because it bears fruit. Yet it goes so contrary to self interest as to appear illogical. Will we take God as seriously as Boaz did?

How are we dealing with the disadvantaged amongst us? Are we empowering them or giving them handouts? Are we seeking anonymity or are we parading our generosity? Are we ‘risking our inheritance’ by going God’s way as we help?