Ruth 2:8-9,22
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” …. 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”
The story of Ruth is a story of Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law Naomi, but it also highlights the character of Boaz. One of the things Boaz does is to protect Ruth from sexual advances, by instructing his workers to not harm her (verse 9). This is a challenge to the men reading this: How do you treat the women around you, your wife, daughters, co-workers? Do you protect their purity, and exhort others to protect their purity? Or do you look the other way, or joke about their sexuality, or even encourage their promiscuity? We have a choice about how we treat women: either as sex objects or as children of God with dignity. The good of masculinity is when it serves as protector of those around us, especially of women who are vulnerable (such as Ruth, an unmarried outsider).
Lord, I confess to not always protecting the women in my life. Help me to protect and not pervert the purity of those around me.
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” …. 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”
The story of Ruth is a story of Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law Naomi, but it also highlights the character of Boaz. One of the things Boaz does is to protect Ruth from sexual advances, by instructing his workers to not harm her (verse 9). This is a challenge to the men reading this: How do you treat the women around you, your wife, daughters, co-workers? Do you protect their purity, and exhort others to protect their purity? Or do you look the other way, or joke about their sexuality, or even encourage their promiscuity? We have a choice about how we treat women: either as sex objects or as children of God with dignity. The good of masculinity is when it serves as protector of those around us, especially of women who are vulnerable (such as Ruth, an unmarried outsider).
Lord, I confess to not always protecting the women in my life. Help me to protect and not pervert the purity of those around me.