A curious phenomena occurring more and more these days is the ever increasing relationships between two people of differing age brackets. For some noteworthy examples, it can be decades apart. A French court is currently examining whether the elderly heiress to the L’Oreal fortune, Europe’s richest woman, was in her right mind when she lavished gifts worth close to US$1.4-billion on a younger male friend. Prosecutor Philippe Courroye, who has been probing the gifts made by Liliane Bettencourt, 86, to socialite Francois-Marie Banier, 62, said yesterday the case would come to trial in September. Ms. Bettencourt is the biggest shareholder in cosmetics giant L’Oreal, the company her father founded. Mr. Courroye’s investigation stems from a complaint filed by Ms. Bettencourt’s daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, who accuses Mr. Banier of taking advantage of her mother’s frailty (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1794774).
In one of the most curious match-making endeavors in Scripture we find Naomi in Ruth chapter 3 trying to set her daughter in law, Ruth, up with the much older Boaz. When the two widows came to Bethlehem, their plan was that Ruth take care of Naomi and both of them eke out an existence the best they could. But now Naomi has a new plan: Ruth is to marry Boaz, and then all of them can live happily ever after. In that day, it was the parents who arranged marriages; so Naomi was not out of place in what she did. She is out of place in how she attempted to do it.
Keep in mind that the Book of Ruth is much more than the record of the marriage of a rejected alien to a respected Jew. It’s also the picture of Christ’s relationship to those who trust Him and belong to Him. In the steps that Ruth takes, recorded in this chapter, we see the steps God’s people must take if they want to enter into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Like Ruth, we must not be satisfied merely with living on leftovers (2:2), or even receiving gifts (2:14, 16). We must want Him alone; for when we have Him, we also have all that He owns. It’s not the gifts that we seek, but the Giver (Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Committed. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1993 (An Old Testament Study. Ruth and Esther), S. Ru 3:1).
In seeking our Kinsman-redeemer we must look for: 1) The Right Purpose: Ruth 3:1, we must go to 2) The Right Person: Ruth 3:2, 3) We Must Make the Right Preparations: Ruth 3:3a and finally 4) We Must be at the Right Place: Ruth 3:3b-6
We must have:
1) The Right Purpose: Ruth 3:1
Ruth 3:1 [3:1]Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? (ESV)
In Ruth 1 Ruth did not even know that Boaz existed. In Chapter 2, she saw him only as her benefactor. Now, in Chapter 3, Ruth wants to establish a permanent relationship with him.
The ending to chap. 2 leaves the reader wondering what would come of Naomi’s dream and what would happen to Ruth, the alien, settling down in Naomi’s house. The question of timing is highlighted by the first word of Chapter 3: ‘then”. The word can also be rendered as “Some time later”: the adverbial conjunction in Hebrew should not be understood as “immediately” or “right then,” but as a reference to the next significant element in the sequence of events.*The lapse of time could not have been more than a few weeks at most, for the threshing of the barley had not been completed, even though both the barley and the wheat had been harvested. The harvest included cutting the stalks in the field, gathering and tying them into sheaves, and transporting the sheaves to the threshing floor (Waard, Jan de ; Nida, Eugene Albert: A Translator’s Handbook on the Book of Ruth. 2nd ed. New York : United Bible Societies, 1992, S. 46).
In light of the closing verses of chap. 2, one may speculate that Naomi hoped Boaz would take the initiative in establishing a relationship with Ruth that was more personal than that of native landowner and alien scavenger and that would eventually lead to marriage. Perhaps Boaz was being sensitive toward Ruth as a widow, not wishing to impose himself upon her until she was emotionally healed and ready to contemplate remarriage. Obviously he was not making any moves; so as Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi took it upon herself to overcome his inertia. Her speech to Ruth breaks down into three parts: (1) a statement of the problem (v. 1), (2) a summary of the facts (v. 2), and (3) a detailed prescription of the procedure (vv. 3–4).
Naomi broaches the subject of finding a husband for her daughter-in-law gently, with an affectionate address of Ruth as “My daughter.” This is only one word in Hebrew, but it is highly significant, expressing the relationship between these two women from Naomi’s perspective and laying the foundation for the daring scheme she will propose.
She then poses a rhetorical question: Is it not up to her to secure Ruth’s future? The rhetorical question expects a strongly affirmative response, “Of course!” The question actually has two parts. First, as her mother-in-law, Naomi asks if she should not provide: “seek rest for you/the good/welfare for you “
Naomi felt responsible, just as she did in 1:9, for Ruth’s future husband and home.
In a physical sense, the provision is in order to seek out for an husband for her, that she might have an house of her own to rest in, and a husband to provide for her; that so she might be free from such toil and labour she had been lately exercised in, and enjoy much ease and comfort, and all outward happiness and prosperity in a marriage state with a good husband ( John Gill).
The objective is to find rest” (NIV “home”) for her daughter-in-law. In seeking a mānôa, “place of rest,” derives from the same root as mĕnûâ in 1:9 and speaks of the security and tranquility that a woman in Israel longed for and expected to find in the home of a loving husband.
In the most general sense, for us, it is a place of being right with Christ. Christ said:
Matthew 11:28 [28]Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (ESV)
The questionable element in this segment is if this is, from Naomi, continued scheming or the results of her prayer in 1:8–9. Furthermore, to pick up the imagery of 2:12, a responsible husband functions as the wings of God offering protection and security for all who dwell in his house.
Second, she defines the purpose of her quest for mānôa for Ruth: that it may be well with you/ it may go well for her (contra NIV, “where you will be well provided for”). This is a general statement by which she means the removal of the reproach of her widowhood and the solution of her destitution by securing the economic necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing) and the calming of her anxieties concerning the future. It is positive that her concern is for Ruth, an outward, other centered motivation.
As she declares it, Naomi’s sole motivation in proposing the following scheme is the welfare of her daughter-in-law. Not a word is said about her personal anxieties about the future. Nor is their any hint of a concern to provide an heir for her own husband Elimelech or her son Mahlon by a levirate marriage. She expresses no interest whatsoever in what will be high in Boaz’s mind as he marries Ruth: to secure the place of Mahlon’s family in Israel by raising up his name on his patrimonial estate and in the court of Bethlehem (4:10).
In that cultural context Ruth certainly would have answered Naomi’s rhetorical question of v. 1 in the affirmative. Yes, it is the duty of a widowed mother-in-law to see to the welfare and security of her widowed daughter-in-law. This applies all the more in this case since Ruth committed herself on oath to Naomi till death do them part. As in any healthy covenant relationship, these are two people who have committed themselves to the other’s good above their own.
Quote: 6660 Courtesy Is Eternal
Coventry Patmore said that courtesy is the only virtue that will be practiced in heaven. I wonder if that is so? Courage? No, for there will be nothing to fear there. Hope? No, for our life will leave nothing to be desired. Charity? No, for then we shall hunger no more, neither shall we thirst. Sympathy? No, for there shall be no more crying. But there will still be room for the exercise of courtesy, the kindly greeting and salutation of one soul by another.
Although you can’t listen to him in other areas, Immanuel Kant had a saying, “Always treat a human being as a person, that is, as an end in himself, and not merely as means to your end.” (Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979)
In seeking our Kinsman-redeemer we must look for 1) The Right Purpose: Ruth 3:1 and we must go to:
2) The Right Person: Ruth 3:2
Ruth 3:2 [2]Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. (ESV)
Again drawing Ruth into her thinking by using another rhetorical question, Naomi begins by setting forth the facts. First, Boaz is the two women’s near relative. The order of the sentence, subject-predicate, is not merely emphatic; it establishes this as a verbless clause of identification, which suggests that in Naomi’s mind Boaz is not simply a relative but the near kinsman who must fulfill the role she has in mind. Whereas in 2:20 she had identified him as a qārôb and a gōēl, now she refers to him as mōda tānû, “our relative,”. Again the use of the plural suffix “our” draws Ruth in, highlighting the solidarity of the mother-in-law with her Moabite daughter-in-law in what is essentially an Israelite custom. But the narrator does not tell us whether at this time or on any previous occasion Naomi had lectured Ruth on Israelite family theology and custom. Ruth’s awareness seems assumed.
Second, calling Ruth to special attention with hinnēh, “See/Behold”, Naomi reminds her that tonight Boaz will be winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Winnowing (tossing grain into the air to finish separating the grain from the chaff) normally occurred in late afternoon when the Mediterranean winds prevailed. Sifting and bagging the grain would have carried over past dark. The threshing floor was usually a large hard area of earth or stone on the downwind (east) side of the village where threshing took place (loosening the grain from the straw and winnowing) (MacArthur, J. J. 1997, c1997. The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) . Word Pub.: Nashville).
Barley was typically threshed at the onset of the dry season (late May-June), after all the grain, both barley and wheat, was cut and gathered. The best threshing floors involved rock outcrops on hilltops. The hard surface was needed to keep the grain free of dirt and to facilitate sweeping up the grains at the end of the day. The hilltop location was required to take advantage of the wind that would blow away the chaff when the threshed grain was tossed in the air with a fork, allowing the separated heavier kernels of grain to fall to the floor. This threshing floor probably was located in or near the field where Ruth had been gleaning, some distance from the town of Bethlehem (cf. v. 15). Boaz chose to do his winnowing at night, presumably because the night breezes were more desirable than the gusty winds of the daytime.
In seeking our Kinsman-redeemer we must look for 1) The Right Purpose: Ruth 3:1, we must go to 2) The Right Person: Ruth 3:2 and
3) We Must Make the Right Preparations: Ruth 3:3a
Ruth 3:3a [3]Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak (and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking). (ESV)
There were other men who would gladly have married Ruth (v. 10), but they could not have redeemed her. Only a kinsman could do that, and Boaz was that kinsman. Since Naomi knew that Boaz would be using the threshing floor that night and staying there to guard his grain, she instructed Ruth to prepare herself to meet him. Ruth made a fivefold preparation before she presented herself to Boaz (Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Committed. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1993 (An Old Testament Study. Ruth and Esther), S. Ru 3:1).
Without telling Ruth specifically that she has her marriage to Boaz in mind, Naomi gives her daughter-in-law detailed instructions on how to take advantage of the situation. Of course all of these actions are designed to make Ruth as attractive to Boaz as possible and to break down resistance.
Please turn to Ezekiel 16
First, Ruth is to take a bath (rāa, “to wash). In essence, Naomi is telling Ruth to act like a bride preparing for her wedding (Ezek. 16:9–12).
Ezekiel 16:8-12 [8]"When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. [9]Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. [10]I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. [11]And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. [12]And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. (ESV)
As God commits Himself like a bridegroom to His bride, he calls us to prepare ourselves:
2 Corinthians 7:1 [7:1]Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (ESV)
If the Old Covenant priests came into God’s presence defiled, they were in danger of death (Ex. 30:17–21). The Jewish people were conscious of the need for holiness as they came to worship God (Pss. 15; 24:1–6); yet many Christians today rush into God’s presence without cleansing themselves of the sins that rob them of God’s blessing. Is it any wonder that worship can be often an empty routine and without experiencing the presence of God?
It is not that we can make ourselves attractive enough that God would like us, but whenever we sin, we must pray, “Wash me” (Ps. 51:2, 7). Part of that process means that we separate from whatever defiles our relationship with God.
• The truly remarkable blessing is that once forgiven, God washes the record clean (1 John 1:9).
Second, Ruth is to anoint herself. Eastern peoples used fragrant oils to protect and heal their bodies and to make themselves pleasant to others. A bride would especially take care to wear fragrant perfume that would make her “nice to be near” (see Song 1:3, 12–14; 4:11–16).
Anointing oil speaks of the presence and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. All believers at regeneration have received the anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27), and therefore we ought to be “a fragrance of Christ” to the Heavenly Father (2 Cor. 2:15). The more we are like Jesus Christ in character and conduct, the more we please our Father; and the more we please Him, the more He can bless and use us for His glory.
While here on earth, Jesus lived His life and did His work through the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:16–19). If the spotless Son of God needed the Spirit’s power, how much more do we! Do we dare pray in the energy of the flesh when the Spirit is present to assist us? (Rom. 8:26; Eph. 2:18) Do we try to witness for Christ without asking the Spirit to help us? (Acts 1:8) Can we fellowship with our Lord in His Word apart from the ministry of the Spirit of God? (Eph. 1:15–23 and 3:14–21) (Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Committed. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1993 (An Old Testament Study. Ruth and Esther), S. Ru 3:1)
Third, Ruth is to put on her cloak. The word used for “cloak” is śimlâ, which normally refers to the outer garment that covered virtually the entire body except the head. The word designated garments worn by both men and women. In no case, including the present, does the word require the meaning “best clothes,” as rendered by the NIV. This interpretation seems to be based on the assumed parallel between this text and Ezek 16:8–12. Both texts contain the sequence of bathing, applying perfume, and putting on garments in preparation for an encounter with a male. It is therefore commonly assumed that Naomi would have Ruth follow a bride’s normal preparation for marriage. But such a brazen act would have repulsed rather than attracted Boaz. On the other hand, some see Naomi simply advising Ruth to dress up to attract a man.
Ruth 3 bears no resemblance at all to accounts of seductive dress, as in Isa 5:1–3 and Jdt 10:4. On the contrary, there seems little point in dressing up to go out in the dark. Nor would Naomi have used the generic word for an outer garment, śimlâ. According to Exod 22:25–26, poor people used this garment for a blanket at night. Since Ruth was a poor person going out to spend the night in the field, she will have needed this blanket to keep warm.
On the analogy of 2 Sam 12:20, it appears that Naomi is hereby advising Ruth to end her period of mourning over her widowhood and get on with normal life. According to the Samuel text, when David had been informed of the death of his son, he washed himself, applied perfumed oil, put on his śimlâ, and then went to the temple to worship, after which he came back home and ate and drank. To David’s puzzled contemporaries this signaled the end of his period of mourning for his son.
It may well be that until this time Ruth had always worn the garments of widowhood, even when she was working out in the field. Perhaps this was the reason for Boaz’s inertia. As an upright man, he would not violate a woman’s right to grieve the loss of her husband nor impose himself upon her until she was ready.
We know too little about how long widows would customarily wear their mourning clothes, but it may be that Naomi is now telling Ruth the time has come to doff her “garments of widowhood” (Gen 38:14, 19) and let Boaz know that she is ready to return to normal life, including marriage, if that should become possible. Naomi may have had all this in mind already in 2:20, but if she did, she kept these notions to herself until such a time as she deemed Ruth ready for the move (Bush, Ruth, 152, following B. Green, “The Plot of the Biblical Story of Ruth,” JSOT 23 (1982): 61).
This is a good lesson on how we relate to others who are grieving. If we are close we can suggest activities, but nevertheless, realize that the period of mourning is individual and we must allow people to grieve at their own pace.
The one passage, however, that is almost directly parallel to Ruth 3:3. In 2 Sam 12:20, when David learned of the death of his child born to Bathsheba, “he washed himself and put on perfumed oil and changed his שׂמלה.” It is also clear from other passages that mourning practices involved refraining from washing oneself or anointing oneself with oil (2 Sam 14:2), together with the wearing of “garments of widowhood” (Gen 38:14, 19) or else the usual garment unwashed for the period of the mourning. Hence, the most likely explanation of Naomi’s instructions to Ruth is that they mean that she should end her period of mourning (cf. Green, JSOT 23 [1982] 61) and so signal her return to the normal activities and desires of life, which, of course, would include marriage. This change in her appearance, with its symbolic meaning, would indicate to Boaz both her availability and the seriousness of her intentions (Bush, Fredric W.: Word Biblical Commentary : Ruth, Esther. Dallas : Word, Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 9), S. 152).
In Scripture, clothing carries a spiritual meaning. After they had sinned against God, our first parents tried to cover themselves; but only the Lord could forgive them and clothe them acceptably, and He had to shed blood to do it (Gen. 3:1–8, 21). The Jewish priests wore special garments that nobody else was permitted to wear (Ex. 28). Salvation is pictured as a change of clothes (Luke 15:22; Isa. 61:10), and Christian living means taking off the “graveclothes” of the old life and putting on the “grace clothes” of the new life (Col. 3:1–17; see John 11:44). We can’t come into God’s presence in our own righteousness, for “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6, KJV). We can only come in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), for we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6, KJV). If we are obedient to His will and seek to please Him, then our garments will be white (Rev. 19:8); but if we’ve sinned, we must confess our sins and seek His cleansing (Zech. 3) (Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Committed. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1993 (An Old Testament Study. Ruth and Esther), S. Ru 3:1).
Illustration: 1033 Pastor’s Wish Was Granted
Naomi had planned out very particular actions for Ruth in preparation. The thing about preparation, is that it must be made before it’s needed.
There was a story a little while ago in Christianity today about a Pastor named Melville S. Taylor. He had often said that when it came time for him to die he wanted the Lord to take him while he was preaching.
While he was a guest preacher at Baseview Assembly of God church in Emerado, North Dakota. He said when he started to preach that he hadn’t realized until then what the Lord wanted him to talk about, commented Steven Robbins, Baseview’s pastor.
“Then he talked about eternal life. He stated in his message that he loved his family, but that if the Lord chose to take him home he was prepared to go right now.” A moment later, said Robbins, the 71-year-old Taylor collapsed and fell from the podium, apparently having suffered a heart attack. Attempts to revive him failed. Taylor’s long-standing wish had been honored (Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).
In seeking our Kinsman-redeemer we must look for 1) The Right Purpose: Ruth 3:1, we must go to 2) The Right Person: Ruth 3:2, 3) We Must Make the Right Preparations: Ruth 3:3a and finally:
4) We Must be at the Right Place: Ruth 3:3b-6
Ruth 3:3b-5 [3](Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and) go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. [4]But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do." [5]And she replied, "All that you say I will do." (ESV)
Fourth, Ruth is to go down to the threshing floor where Boaz is working and where he will spend the night. To some it may seem odd that Boaz should have stayed out in the field for the night. It is true that normally landowners and field workers would go out to the fields in the morning and return at dusk to the security of the walled village for the night. It seems that at winnowing time, however, an exception was made, and the men would sleep at the threshing floors to guard the fruits of their hard labor against thieves or marauding animals. But Naomi adds a rider to this command. Ruth is not to let Boaz know she has come until he has finished eating and drinking and lain down for the night. According to v. 7, after a long day of hard work, “eating and drinking” would put him in a relaxed mood, and he would quickly drop off to sleep.
The reference to eating and drinking is almost as if Naomi is encouraging Ruth to live up to the stereotype of how the Moabite women led the Israelite men into sexual immorality and idolatry (Numbers 25). The very origins of Moab were in an act of drunken incest between Lot and his older daughter (Gen 19:30–38).
Although Boaz’s “drinking” probably included an alcoholic beverage, our passage makes no mention whatsoever of him getting drunk or of engaging in actions that he would not have done sober. Ruth the Moabitess is indeed descended from Lot by his eldest daughter, but the narrator is careful to present her as the antithesis of the stereotypical Moabite. In fact she is deliberately portrayed throughout as embodying the Israelite standards of covenantal faithfulness/hesed.
Fifth, lurking incognito near the threshing floor, Ruth is to observe carefully where Boaz finally lies down.
Sixth, Ruth is to uncover his “feet” and go and lie down herself. Few texts in the book have generated as much discussion as this command. There is a line of interpretation that treats it as a command to engage in risque and seductive behavior. It seems that in this cultural context, at winnowing time the threshing floor often became a place of illicit sexual behavior. Realizing that the men would spend the night in the fields next to the piles of grain, prostitutes would go out to them and offer their services. As a Moabite Ruth might not have had scruples about feigning the role of a prostitute to secure a sexual favor from a “near relative” any more than Tamar did in Genesis 38.
This interpretation is rendered all the more attractive by the fact that each of the three Hebrew words that make up this sentence is capable of more than one meaning, and each is capable of bearing an overtly sexual meaning. First, the root glh, “to uncover,” is often used in sexual contexts of “uncovering someone’s nakedness” (a euphemism for exposing the genitals (Lev 18:6–19; 20:11, 17–21; Ezek 22:10) or of “uncovering someone’s skirt.” ((Exod 20:26; 2 Sam 6:20;Gen 9:21). Second, the final verb, šākab, “to lie,” is often used to denote sexual relations. (Except for Gen 30:15–16 and 2 Sam 11:11, the relations are always illicit (incest, homosexuality, bestiality, rape, seduction): Gen 19:32–33; Lev 20:11–13, 18, 20; Deut 22:25; 27:20–23; 35:22) Third, the noun between these verbs, margĕlôt, derives from regel, “foot,” the dual and plural of which may be used euphemistically for the genitalia (Exod 4:25; Judg 3:24; 1 Sam 24:3 [4]; Isa 7:20 (all male); Deut 28:57; Ezek 16:25 (both female). Not surprisingly, therefore, some interpret Naomi’s scheme as delicate and dangerous, charged with sexual overtones (Cf. Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, 182, and 198, n. 23).
The phrase uncover his feet also refers to a recognized and morally acceptable, though primitive, custom in which the girl would slightly pull back the edge of the man’s robe and then request him to spread the robe (lit., wing) over her. The implication of this meant that she was proposing marriage to him and asking that she be taken into his family as his wife, and thus, come under his protection. The Targum recognized this as a claim to espousal (cf. Ezk 16:8; Deut 22:30) (KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 526).
Why might the narrator use such language in describing the situation? The artistic function of the conflicting connotations of words versus sentences must be to furnish, on a level beyond the literal, the sense of the sexual and emotional tension felt by the characters in the vignette. The narrative tells us straightforwardly that no sexual intercourse has taken place on the threshing floor, that final resolutions await the scene at the city gate. All the while, however, the vocabulary of the scene indicates that it might have, that the atmosphere was sexually charged. Thus the ambivalence. The words point, beneath the surface, to the might-have-been which the characters felt might be, while the combinations of the words emphasize the opposing reality. The author of Ruth is relying upon ambiguity of language to depict the tension of emotion, enabling him to convey the atmospherics of the scene without digressing from his narrative to describe them. (Bernstein, JSOT 50 [1991] 19–20)
One problem in Naomi’s instruction to Ruth, especially when she is from a foreign culture known for seducing Israelite men, is that each of the three words she uses can be misinterpreted. First, there is no suggestion in Naomi’s tone or intention that either verb is to be interpreted sexually.
To sexualize every situation we encounter would point to a mind problem
(Rom. 12, Phil 4: Think on these things)
Ruth is to wait for further instructions from Boaz. With this comment Naomi expresses remarkable confidence in Boaz to take the matter from here.
Boaz, being a judge of Israel, and expert in the law, he would inform her whether he was the next kinsman, and had the right of redemption or not, and what methods must be taken, and what rites used, in order to her marriage with him, or another person (John Gill).
Naomi in giving this direction may be placing her faith in God to guide Boaz in making the appropriate response? In either case she was letting Boaz have the last say in Ruth’s fate.
There comes a point in all our decision making and actions that we can do only so much must leave certain actions and results to God.
o In evangelism, we must present the need for repentance and faith, but we cannot change minds and must trust God with changing the heart and for God to bring someone to faith.
o We abuse our responsibility by not evangelizing or brow-beating until someone says certain words to just shut us up.
The delicacy of the scheme is obvious, and the potential for disaster is extreme. From a human perspective Naomi seems to be taking a huge gamble that Boaz may not interpret this series of nonverbal gestures in accordance with the meaning she intends.
This proposal also provides the student of communication theory with a classic illustration of the power of ambiguity in rhetoric.
We must remember the challenge we always have in reading scripture to understand that we don’t have every word spoken by every character, their tone, actions, or facial expressions etc. There comes a point with certain elements in certain stories that we can look to the broader message and must with humility, acknowledge that we don’t have every minute detail.
Obviously when Boaz awakes and discovers his feet uncovered and a woman lying nearby, the nonverbal communication is sufficiently ambiguous to be interpreted in any one of several ways. First, in that cultural and spiritual context, Boaz could wake up in the middle of the night and willingly accept Ruth’s overtures, in his grogginess interpreting her actions to be those of a common prostitute. After all, the events described occur in the dark days of the judges. The threshing floor was not only the place of harvest, but also of immoral practices of the fertility cult (Hos. 9:1). harvest-time men and women would come together on the threshing floor as a way of stimulating powers of fertility (the foreign deities Baal and Asherah) to ensure good crops and increase of flocks and herds. Naomi’s instructions to Ruth not to make herself known to Boaz until he had finished eating and drinking (Ruth 3:3), and Boaz’s remark that “it must not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor” (3:14). She might be suspected of immorality (Hamlin, E. John: Surely There Is a Future : A Commentary on the Book of Ruth. Grand Rapid, Mich.; Edinburgh : Eerdmans; Handsel Press Ltd., 1996 (International Theological Commentary), S. 40).
Second, Boaz could wake up and interpret Ruth’s actions as those of a prostitute but as a noble and genuinely virtuous Israelite shoo her off as an immoral woman with whom he will have nothing to do. Third, Boaz could wake up and recognize immediately the true meaning of Ruth’s actions and respond favorably to her.
Naomi’s scheme is obviously a gamble. The effectiveness of her plan is measured by the extent to which Boaz’s interpretation when he awakes conforms to the meaning she has intended in Ruth’s actions. Either of the first two responses would have defeated Naomi’s purpose; and far from securing Ruth’s welfare, this poor Moabite woman would have returned home broken in body and bruised in spirit. From a natural perspective the desired response was actually the least likely to occur. Naomi’s faith is strong. She has confidence in Boaz’s integrity and apparently in the hidden hand of God to govern his reactions when he awakes.
Remarkably Ruth’s faith appears to be equal to that of her mother-in-law, for she gives herself wholly to carrying out Naomi’s scheme in full. Meanwhile the narrator challenges the reader to trust God the way these women do. The first scene closes, leaving us to wonder if this delicate and dangerous plan will work.
(Format note: Some base commentary from Block, Daniel Isaac: Judges, Ruth. electronic ed. Nashville : Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1999 (Logos Library System; The New American Commentary 6), S. 679)
