Boaz wore button up shirts, $200 jeans, black leather dress shoes, and a light jacket with zipper pockets and a plastic exterior to keep him dry. He drove an F-250, carried a clipboard, and used a Blackberry. He had a baseball cap and a watch that was not fashionable, but functional. Boaz was a business man, and a pretty successful one at that. He had employees that he managed, properties that he owned, and responsibilities that he took care of. He was also well respected in Ruth 2:4 he greeted his workers with “The Lord be with you!” An interesting choice for a man who, while he lived in a society dominated by religion, did not necessarily have a workforce that was interested in following all the laws of God, as we will see. However his workers answered him with “The Lord bless you.” He was respected.

Boaz was definitely not perfect. He does almost get himself into a lot of trouble a couple of times throughout Ruth, but we will get to that.

Boaz is a rare look at a business man doing business, which is usually not found in tteh bible. The bible says a lot about business, but rarely do we see a business man who is so Godly and so successful. Boaz was probably an older man, he had survived his dad who, if he was alive, would have been running the farm as Boaz was doing. We know that Boaz had farm hands, which meant that business was good enough to either employ workers or have slaves. Slaves that would need to be set on their way with land, resources, and money in the next seven years, as was the law of God. We know that he had fields and property, he ran a whole operation.

There are a few practical things that we can pull out of the  life of Boaz. Boaz was successful in business while being nice to his workers. He didn’t have to be a jerk in order to be successful. He didn’t cut corners, he followed the cultural and spiritual laws that God had created. He served his employees well and they saw the love of God in him. He was a focused worker, as we will see.

A lot of young Christians feel like the only place to go to work for God is in the church. This is not so. God has used and continues to use people from all different types of vocations to do his work. A lot of people think that God is some kind of eternal pastor, preaching from the pulpit. This is not true. God is a creator. God invented nuclear physics, economic systems, music, ect. God is the God of rap music and the music industry. God cares just as much as the person who picks the corn and the person who preaches the word. We need good businessmen to reflect the gospel of Christ through picking the wheat and the corn.

Boaz is a great example of how God blesses everyone and reflects himself through all kinds of work. Boaz was not a pastor. He didn’t wear a collar or work in a church. Instead he preached the gospel in the way that God gave him to in the place that God gave him to. He preached Jesus in the fields, to those who worked in the fields.