May the Word of the Lord be your help.

There are many different ways to translate the greeting from Boaz to his workers from Ruth 2:4, but I really do like this from John Gill’s exposition of the Bible where he references the Targum as “May the Word of the Lord be your help.” Wikipedia explains that the point of a targum is that “A targum was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible that a professional translator would give in the common language of the listeners when that was not Hebrew.” For those of us who aren’t fluent in Hebrew and don’t understand the original language, context and customs — preachers, expositions, Bible translations into our common language, and targums are very helpful to help us understand. In fact, our very lives are meant to be targums in a way — bringing the Word of God that is foreign and not understandable to a lost person close enough and familiar enough to them through is that they might encounter the Lord.

It was then that Boaz came back from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered him, “The Lord bless you!”
Ruth 2:4 AMP

Boaz greeted his workers in a familiar way that brought God glory and allowed them to in return give God glory as well. And he didn’t just give God glory in his words, but also in how he lived.

Truly, there is no help better for us than the Word of God. That is the truth for this life and for the eternal. We can find no better help than the Living Word of God being with us and helping us and guiding us through our day. I pray we know this, we believe this, and we live this in such a tangible way that it compels a response from others that also glorifies God today. Amen!