Daily Lesson for February 27, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ruth chapter 2 verses 1 through 10:

Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favour.’ She said to her, ‘Go, my daughter.’ 3So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, ‘The Lord be with you.’ They answered, ‘The Lord bless you.’ 5Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘To whom does this young woman belong?’ 6The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, ‘She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7She said, “Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.” So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment.’*

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. 9Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.’ 10Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favour in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?’

Our second son Bo is named after Boaz in today’s Lesson. I swore I would never have a Bo, partially because the name reminded me of Bo Duke — a good old boy never meaning no harm, but with his General Lee car not necessarily someone Irie and I wanted to name a child after. Nevertheless, in utero it became clear that Boaz would be the baby’s name, and that we would call him Bo.

Boaz means strength. And indeed Bo is strong and so was his namesake. He was strong and we liked that. But more importantly he was good; and we liked that even more. We liked how Boaz treated the vulnerable woman Ruth who worked for him. We liked how he protected and watched over her and did not allow the men he employed to harass her.  We wanted to communicate a message to Bo and his brother and sister that Boaz was an honorable man and that we wanted and expected our boys to grow up to be honorable men. We wanted to tell them how important we thought it was to be strong — not so much in body, but in decency and moral character. We wanted to teach them; and we wanted to begin by teaching them with a name. 

Six years after Bo’s birth, and a year and a half after the beginning of the #metoo movement, we see just how needed morally strong and decent men like Boaz really are.  I am proud of the name Bo. And I’m even more proud of the name Boaz. And I pray our Bo will grow up to be a Boaz. I pray that he will grow up to be strong; and even more I pray that he will grow up to be good. 

And really, I say this in all candor, nothing else really matters.