February 18, 2026 - IMU Office 571
Ice Breaker
- What’s the best Youtube video/show/movie that you’ve watched recently?
- What is the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
- Would you rather be able to speak every language, play any instrument, be able to fix anything, or speak to animals?
Opening Prayer
Study Questions
- After years of famine, Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem (the House of bread) during the festival of first fruits. How do you think it might have felt for Naomi being bitter with no evidence of any fruitfulness in her life (no property, no children or grandchildren) to return during this time of celebrating fruitfulness? How might this have felt for Ruth after she had committed her life to God and all of his ways?
- Leviticus 23:9-22 is referencing the festival of first fruits. It takes place after passover *(Passover lamb= God covers our sin, He provides a substitute for coming the justice we deserve, and He delivers us from our bondage.)*AND after the feast of unleavened bread (A time to clean the yeast= sin from the darkest corners of your home as a symbol of allowing God to do that in your heart.). Leviticus 23:22 lays out the idea of gleaning. Discuss the purpose of gleaning and why do you think God’s Law made a provision to command this practice? (Leviticus 19:9-10; 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19-21)
- Is this biblical principle of gleaning something that would work in our modern society? Why or why not? What might it look like for us to practice a heart of gleaning?
- Why might the author emphasize that Boaz is a “prominent man of noble character” (v.1)?
- As a result of Ruth’s desire to honor her commitment to Naomi, she takes a risk and goes out into the fields to glean. What was so risky about Ruth, a Moabitess woman, gleaning in the fields near Bethlehem?
- Verse 3 says “she happened to be” in Boaz’s field, what might the author be suggesting about God’s providence?
- What can we can observe about Ruth's surrendered heart to God and others in these passages?
- What can we can observe about Boaz's surrendered heart to God and others in these passages
- How and why does Boaz go beyond the legal requirements of gleaning in how he treats Ruth?