For those of you who don`t know and were afraid to ask here`s the character qulities of Boaz.
Boaz:
1. A Servant. I think this was the first time I had seen this in the story of Ruth. When they were at the table in chapter 2, Boaz passes Ruth the bread. He wasn�t sitting there waiting for Ruth to serve him. He took the initiative and served Ruth.
2. A Generous Giver/Provider. Boaz didn�t just command the men to leave Ruth with a days reaping, Ruth left there with 30-50 lbs of harvest grains. He didn�t just provide for her needs, he graciously gave her far above what she needed. Col 3.20 and Rom 8.32 come to mind.
3. A God Lover. The first thing we hear Boaz say is �The Lord be with you.� This initial greeting would have declared his allegiance. Love Jesus men. Women, follow men who love Jesus. This is crucial. Not just men who are Christians � but are actively loving their Jesus, their Savior, pressing deeper into the gospel.
4. A Protector. In chapter 2, Boaz commands his men to allow Ruth to glean and not to reproach her.
5. A Kind Man. Kindness to Ruth, a stranger, a Moabite woman, and to his �employees�.
6. A Helper of the Needy. Boaz looked out for those less fortunate than he was. He had compassion on them.
7. Respected. This is crucial (especially for the women). Boaz was respected in the gates (we see this in chapter 2 and 4 of Ruth). Women, if a man is pursuing you or you think you might like a guy, get some counsel from the godly men in your life � do they respect this guy? If people tell you some things that you may not have seen in your brief encounters with him, please take them to heart. I have not always done that, and wish I had. Wisdom, ladies, comes sometimes away from attraction.
8. Integrity. Boaz, as we see in chapter 3, was a man of integrity. He didn�t take advantage of the situation that presented itself to him. And he also dealt honestly with Mr So-and-so in chapter 4 who was the next Kinsman Redeemer in line for Ruth.
Sometimes women ask me what they should look for in a husband, I want to now tell them to go read the book of Ruth. This list of characteristics isn�t exhaustive, but its a good start. Others that I would want to include are: cute, adventurous, humble, meek�you know, important ones! (haha) I love it. If I could pick out 4 books in the Bible, the OT and the NT and I could only have 4: they would be Ruth, Psalms, Romans, and Colossians. Love them.
Ruth gives me such a vibrant picture of the gospel � what Jesus has done for me. Took me, a foreigner, and died for me, graciously showered me with kindness and hope and good news � far above anything I deserved or could ever imagine. Jesus is so gracious. Press in to the gospel. Be encouraged!
I am not shy about sharing my opinion, at the very least it promotes a good discussion...
I think the number of men with a heart like Boaz greatly out number the women with hearts like Ruth's. Not that it is entirely their fault, modern society teaches them to try to think, act and behave like men.
I have some married friends from Mexico, the women always tell me they are going to get me a wife from Mexico, but 'she' will have to be from a village, because all the women in the big cities have been ruined.....this is from the mouth of good old fashioned wives!
Every time I see something like �Ruth looking for my Boaz� I always think: So you are a widow from another land with a bitter mother-in-law looking for an older wealthy man who is a close relative to your former husband.
Somehow I just don�t think that is what they are trying to say, it�s just fun to take things a little too literally sometimes.
I firmly believe what you stated about the entire story of Ruth in that it points to the Gospel of Christ.
Regarding the character traits this must be looked at in light of our relationship to Christ. If a woman seeks a man who is diligently seeking Christ while she is also seeking Him she will find a man who has some of the character traits of Boaz. But to look around at men and women today and search out these traits is simply not right beacuse of lack of spiritual maturity. Boaz was an older man deep in faith towards God. A younger man who is not as mature in his relationship with Christ cannot possibly hold such characteristics.
The flesh can immitate these - such as kindness, protector, servant - if it seeks its own gain. Often times young men will employ acts of kindness or "being a gentleman" to seduce young women. Are not these the kind characteristics young women seek? But the characteristics of Boaz are of a spirit nature pointing to the character of Christ. They can only come from walking near to Him and being conformed in His image. They can't come from being tainted in a city environment or whatnot. Christ calls people from every type of environment and conforms them to His image.
In Boaz you see the characteristics of Christ. So look for Christ's image in a man and not for a bullet list of perfected characteristics. Same for a woman. That is why I must disagree with twosparrows comment on more men looking like Boaz than women looking like Ruth.
To answer the question in a summarized way: what makes Boaz attractive as a husband is his reflection of Christ's servanthood. Just as the husband is to love the wife as Christ loved the Church and gave his life to it. It is because he reflects Christ our Savior.
You do love a good sparring contest. Then again, you take it as good as you dish it, so why not.
Boaz was a leader AND a servant. Ruth was a servant AND so much more.
Servant does not translate to walked on. Having live in Mexico, both outside a village and in Mexico City, the women's words do hold some merit. However, the part that seems to get overlooked (in my humble opinion) is the man's role. Yes, the village woman serves her husband. She cares for him in every way she can think of. The man on the other hand works himself into an early grave caring for the woman. I saw a man work two jobs to provide for his family. Ok, that happens here in the US. However, when he came home, he would immediately grab his machete and a bag, then hop onto his bike. When he came home several hours later, there would be firewood strapped to the bike and his back. Before, he left for work in the mornings, he was outside at the well drawing water and filling all the buckets they had so that his wife did not have to worry about that. He would also ensure there was plenty of wood stacked near where she cooked.
I inquired once why he moved the wood from the pile over to by her cooking area every morning. His response, to ensure that she did not get bitten by snakes or spiders of course.
Yes, his wife cooked for him. She scrubbed his clothing and his home. She brought food to him at the table and did everything in her power to make the home a happy, comfortable, and clean place (with dirt floors and a thatch roof, that is a chore in and of itself).
It seems so often when I hear people talking about the Mexican wife, this is what they discuss. There is so much more to it. Her husband (hopefully) is worthy of this service. He earns it day in and out. He might not be the most expressive man and tell her how much she is loved and appreciated. However, his actions speak quite clearly.
One neighbor, they had a several children and his wife was nursing the little one, did all mentioned above, and also still found time to build her a home in his off time. One day while visiting their home, they invited me to dinner. I politely refused because they had very little food and money was extremely short. I did offer to babysit the little ones (who had already eaten) so that they could enjoy their dinner in peace for once.
The man had been working at least 12 hours that day in the fields. I knew that for lunch he usually only had a small serving of beans and rice wrapped in a tortilla. He had to have been starving. Anyway, when she set the meager amount of food out, his plate had a bit more food on it than hers. This was one of the ways she showed her love. He had eaten less than half when he declared he was stuffed and gave her the rest of his dinner.
Being the tactful (I do try, just not so good at it) and inquisitive soul that I am, I did ask him afterward (while she was off cleaning up or some such) how he could have been filled up on such a small amount. He just laughed and said being hungry was easy to bear. Seeing the woman he loved and the mother of his children hungry was not.
I didn't live around the rich folks most of the time. I lived in extreme poverty areas. That is where I was called. The women were so humble and giving. The men worked incredibly hard and cared for their wives in ways beyond imagining. To make a long story longer....it was a two way street.
