Naomi saw how much Ruth brought home and knew someone had been unusually kind to her. Keil & Delitzsch say the size of the load and the food showed it. Naomi was not suspicious. Gill notes that she did not think Ruth had come by it dishonestly; she simply wanted to know where such good gleaning was to be found. Her two questions ask the same thing two ways: where did you gather, and where did you work? Ruth's answer shows she understood that Naomi really wanted to know whose field it was. Even before hearing the name, Naomi blessed him: "blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee."

Ruth told her the man's name. She "shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz" (Ruth 2:19). At that name Naomi blessed him "of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead," and told Ruth, "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen" (Ruth 2:20). Ruth added that Boaz had told her to keep fast by his young men until the harvest ended, and Naomi agreed it was good (Ruth 2:21-22).

Ruth's load of barley was a large one. Barnes says the ephah she gleaned (Ruth 2:17) was enough to support herself and her mother-in-law for five days. Naomi uses two different Hebrew words for "where": 'eyphoh and 'anah. Her blessing on the one who "did take knowledge of thee" uses nakar, to notice or regard, the same verb Ruth used when she asked Boaz why he would "take knowledge" of her (Ruth 2:10).

In Ruth 2:20 Naomi calls Boaz one of their "next kinsmen" (from the Hebrew ga'al). The word names the kinsman-redeemer, a close relative who could act on behalf of the family. Keil & Delitzsch point to the redeemer's role in Leviticus 25:26, 48-49.

Naomi's questions lead to a turn in her outlook, from emptiness toward praise. She had come home saying "the LORD hath brought me home again empty" (Ruth 1:21). Now, with barley and bread in front of her, she blesses Boaz in the LORD's name: "Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead" (Ruth 2:20). The word for kindness is chesed, steadfast love.

Commentators differ on whose kindness Naomi means. Keil & Delitzsch read it as God's kindness, shown to Elimelech (Naomi's husband) and his sons even after their death through His care for their widows. Gill reads it as Boaz's kindness. The difference matters for how we hear Naomi: on the first reading she is confessing that God's kindness had not left off after all; on the second she is praising a kind man. Either way, Naomi's blessing is spoken "of the LORD."

The day that began with Ruth's "hap" (her chance, or luck) bringing her to Boaz's field (Ruth 2:3) ends with Naomi recognizing the field belonged to a redeemer. What seemed like chance to Ruth was, in Gill's words on Ruth 2:3, by the providence and direction of God, that is, by His guiding care.