Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Ruth Chapter 3

In chapter 2, Ruth goes to glean, and find food; in chapter 3 she goes to find rest and security in a husband.

In chapter 2, she is dressed for work; in chapter 3 she is dressed as a bride.

In chapter 2, Ruth goes hoping to find what the law allowed (gleaned grain) and in addition finds favor from Boaz.

In chapter 3 Ruth goes hoping to find what the law allows (security, levirate marriage) and in addition finds the love of Boaz.


   The story in chapter 2 ended with Ruth working in Boaz’s fields for the duration of the harvest. The story tells us that this was actually two harvests, the barley and the wheat harvest. So in all likelihood, Ruth had been working in Boaz’s fields for 6-8 weeks at the point where chapter two ends and chapter 3 begins.


   Boaz was showing some interests in chapter 2 in Ruth, but here we are 6-8 weeks later. And nothing else has happened. Sure Ruth has been protected and provided for, but Boaz for whatever reason has failed to take the next step, he’s failed to close the deal. Every day Ruth had been walking to those fields, working hard, seeing Boaz come by every day watching her and even inviting her to share the meals. He’s interested, but never makes the move. Why hadn't Boaz not initiated a proposal of marriage earlier? Possibly there were two reasons: he assumed Ruth wanted to marry a younger man, someone closer to her own age (verse 10), and he was not the closest eligible male relative (verse 12).


   Now Ruth is somewhat limited by the social norms here, as to what she can do. She can’t just outright pursue Boaz. Being a Moabite carried some baggage as well. She was poor, widowed, no longer a virgin and at the lowest level of society. She likely didn’t get the chance to look her best every day working in the hot, dusty fields. Ruth has to be wondering what is going on. And now that the harvest is over, the chances of something happen are getting pretty slim. Something needs to be done SOON!


(1) One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for.


   Naomi recognizes that Ruth cannot simply keep living with her, a poverty-stricken old widow. Most likely, her husband had sold their land before they left Israel and the only way of getting it back was by the action of a kinsman-redeemer. She sees God's hand at work to bring Ruth into God's family through Boaz because of the "happenstance" that it was his field she went to without knowing whose it was nor the relationship as a kinsman-redeemer.


(2) Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be *winnowing barley at the **threshing floor.


   Naomi seems to know a lot about what's going on with Boaz!


*winnowing: The winnowing took place during the breezes that begin after sundown.


**threshing floor: The threshing floor was typically made of clay soil packed in a hard, smooth surface. Sheaves of grain were spread on the floor and trampled by oxen. A shovel and fan were used in winnowing the grain (Isaiah 30:24). Threshing floors were often located on hills where the night winds could more easily blow away the chaff. The owner might stay there to ensure that the grain was not stolen.


(3) Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking.


   Up until now, she had probably been dressed as a widow in mourning. She is now to present herself as a bride to Boaz. Do you see an analogy with Israel?

Isaiah 62:5: Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.


(4) Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.”


(5) “I will do everything you say,” Ruth replied.


(6) So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the instructions of her mother-in-law.


(7) After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he lay down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.


   There was a good reason why Boaz slept at the threshing floor. These were the days of the Judges, when there was much political and social instability in Israel. It wasn’t unusual for gangs of thieves to come and steal all the hard-earned grain a farmer had grown. Boaz slept at the threshing floor to guard his crop against the kind of attacks described in 1 Samuel 23:1.


   Some might think this was a provocative gesture, as if Ruth was told to provocatively offer herself sexually to Boaz. This was not how this gesture was understood in that day. In the culture of that day, this was understood as an act of total submission. In that day, this was understood to be the role of a servant - to lie at their master’s feet and be ready for any command of the master. Ruth lay crosswise at his feet - a position in which Eastern servants frequently sleep in the same chamber or tent with their master; and if they want a covering, custom allows them that benefit from part of the covering on their master's bed. So, when Naomi told Ruth to lie down at Boaz’s feet, she told her to come to him in a totally humble, submissive way. Ruth hoped that Boaz would act as her kinsman-redeemer and she hoped he would marry her and raise up a family to perpetuate the name of Elimelech. But Naomi wisely counseled Ruth to not come as a victim demanding her rights, but as a humble servant, trusting in the goodness of her kinsman-redeemer. She said to Boaz, “I respect you, I trust you, and I put my fate in your hands.”


   Note that the threshing floor was a public place and that these incidents all took place in the open. Both men and women were lying about the threshing floor. Entire families were gathered there. There was not much privacy connected with such circumstances, but it was the custom of the day and was not considered immodest or even questionable. This was a happy family gathering in the spirit of a religious festival.


(8) Around midnight Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet!


(9) “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your *servant Ruth,” she replied. “**Spread the corner of your ***covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.”


*servant: handmaiden. Amah = handmaiden. Nokri = alien, foreigner. Ruth formerly called herself a nokri in 2:10, but now sees herself as an amah.


**Spread: to claim her in marriage - she is claiming Boaz as her redeemer.


***covering: Literally, wing (for protection). In the metaphorical account in Ezekiel 16:8, God spreads his skirt over naked Jerusalem as an act of protection and as a precursor to marriage. Thus Ruth’s words can be taken, in effect, as a marriage proposal. Even to the present day, when a Jew marries a woman, he throws the skirt or end of his talith over her, to signify that he has taken her under his protection.


   There is a play on words here. Earlier Boaz had said, (Ruth 2:12) "May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." The word 'wing' and the word 'garment' here sound very alike. So Ruth is saying, "Will you be the one God uses to provided refuge". Ruth takes matters into her own hands and she asks. She doesn't rely on her having washed herself, or beautified herself; she just asks that Boaz would fulfill his role as redeemer. That he would be her savior.


   The only other place in the Old Testament where the phrase "spreading the skirt" occurs in relation to lovers is found in Ezekiel 16:8. God is talking and he is describing Israel as a young maiden that he took for his wife. "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age for love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness; yea, I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became mine." - KJV. She was saying in effect, "I would like to be the one to whom you pledge your faithfulness and with whom you make a marriage covenant." This word is used only one other place in Ruth -- namely, in 2:12, where Boaz says to Ruth, "The Lord recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under those wings you have come to take refuge." - KJV.


   What Boaz really means is, "Because you take refuge under the wings of God you are the kind of woman I want to cover with my wings." It is not easy for an older man to express love to a younger woman. Boaz did it with deeds of kindness and subtle words of admiration. He said he admired her for coming under God's wings. He acted as though she were under his and he waited. And in the course of time Naomi and Ruth hit upon a response just as subtle, just as profound. Ruth will come to him in his sleep, in the grain field where he has taken her under his care, and she will say yes. But she will say it with an action just as subtle and profound as the action and words of Boaz. She puts herself under his wing, so to speak, and when he wakes everything hangs on one sentence and whether Ruth has interpreted Boaz correctly. A middle-aged man in love with a young widow whom he discretely calls "my daughter," uncertain whether her heart might be going after the younger men, communicating the best he can that he wants to be God's wings for her. And a young widow gradually reading between the lines and finally ready to risk an interpretation by coming in the middle of the night to take refuge under the wing of his garment.


(10) “The Lord bless you, my daughter!” Boaz exclaimed. “You are showing even more family loyalty now than you did *before, for you have not gone after a **younger man, whether rich or poor.


*before: Ruth’s former act of devotion was her decision to remain and help Naomi. The latter act of devotion is her decision to marry Boaz to provide a child to carry on her deceased husband’s (and Elimelech’s) line and to provide for Naomi in her old age.


**younger man: Apparently, there was a considerable age difference between Ruth and Boaz. It also seems that because of this, Boaz considered himself unattractive to Ruth.


(11) Now don’t worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a *virtuous woman.


*virtuous woman: Or “woman of strong character” (NIV “woman of noble character”). The same phrase is used in Proverbs 31:10 to describe the ideal wife. Proverbs 31 emphasizes the ideal wife’s industry, her devotion to her family, and her concern for others, characteristics which Ruth had demonstrated.


   We know from the character of Boaz that it isn't outward appearances that impress him. He has seen Ruth dusty and sweaty in the field gleaning, but instead he focuses on her character. He has heard all about her, and what she has done has made an impression. And here again he speaks about her character, "All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character." Boaz is a man who looks at the heart, at the inner beauty of a person, at their relationship with God and how that relationship works itself out in their lives. All she had to do was ask. Which is what she did. And Boaz responds with "Yes".


(12) But while it’s true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is *another man who is more closely related to you than I am.


*another man: The order of these relations is brother, uncle, cousin, or close clan relative. Boaz had apparently already been considering the situation!


(13) Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well. Let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself! Now lie down here until morning.”


(14) So Ruth lay at Boaz’s feet until the morning, but she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other. For Boaz had said, “No one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor.”


   Boaz and Ruth were not trying to hide anything scandalous; it was just that Boaz didn’t want the nearer kinsman to learn that Ruth was now demanding her right to marriage to a go'el before Boaz could tell him personally.


(15) Then Boaz said to her, “Bring your cloak and spread it out.” He measured *six scoops of barley into the cloak and placed it on her back. Then he returned to the town.


*six scoops: About 60-80 pounds. Jewish traditions say that the six measures of barley given as a gift to Ruth were a sign of six pious men who would descend from her, endowed with six spiritual gifts: David, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and the Messiah.


(16) When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “*What happened, my daughter?” Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her,


*What happened, my daughter?: Literally, "who are you?" That is, are you now "Mrs. Boaz?"


(17) and she added, “He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law *empty-handed.’”


*empty-handed: In addition to being a further gesture of kindness on Boaz’s part, the gift of barley served as a token of his intention to fulfill his responsibility as family guardian.


(18) Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won’t rest until he has settled things today.”


   In ancient Israelite society, certain legal obligations fell to the next of kin, known as the go'el or "kinsman-redeemer". According to Numbers 27:8-11, family lands could not be permanently sold out of family possession. A destitute relative could sell inheritance land to pay debtors, but landless people were reduced to servitude. It fell to the go'el to redeem lands and family members by payment of outstanding debts. In the event of the death of a man without an heir, a surviving bother was obligated to redeem (i.e., marry) the widow and raise up an heir for the deceased. This implied a financial and emotional commitment that not all brothers were willing to undertake. If there were no brother, then other close relatives could act as the go'el.


   The goel - sometimes translated kinsman-redeemer - had a specifically defined role in Israel’s family life:



  • The kinsman-redeemer was responsible to buy a fellow Israelite out of slavery (Leviticus 25:48).

  • He was responsible to be the “avenger of blood” to make sure the murderer of a family member answered to the crime (Numbers 35:19).

  • He was responsible to buy back family land that had been forfeited (Leviticus 25:25).

  • He was responsible to carry on the family name by marrying a childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).


Deuteronomy 25:5-6: If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.



Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation of the Bible.



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