Ruth 2:17–3:18
Based on an idea by Steve Zeisler
Sometimes, when we see a specific mistake made by another person, God can use our watchfulness to help us see ourselves more clearly.
Today let us look more closely at Naomi’s mistakes.
Her desire to provide a home for Ruth, and for herself as well, is a good one. In 3:1 she says:
1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. (Ruth 3:1)
The word for rest in this verse is the Hebrew „manoach,“ and it means a home, a place of rest, security, a place of acceptance and protection.
Naomi’s intention is good. The problem is that in order to reach her goal, she resorts to manipulation. Because of God’s intervention and the morality of Boaz, however, her tactics turn out to be pointless.
SCHEMING AND FLESHLY ENTHUSIASM
Last Sunday we spoke about the wonderful day on which Ruth and Boaz met. But Naomi did not know what had happened that day. She learns of the events from Ruth. She notices the enormous bag of barley and the roasted grain that Ruth brings home (2:17-18).
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. (Ruth 2:17-18)
Naomi was grateful to God, because in her hands she held something she could measure — a wonderful supper of roasted grain and a surprisingly large amount of gleanings that her daughter-in-law had gathered. Naomi wanted to know to whom all this blessing was owed (v.19).
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. (Ruth 2:19)
The moment Ruth mentions the name of Boaz, Naomi immediately begins to draw her own conclusions and inferences (v.20).
20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’” (Ruth 2:20-21)
One of the relatives had to take responsibility for the widows and redeem Elimelech’s property. And perhaps in Boaz’s care for Ruth, Naomi saw the appearance of a new opportunity for gain. This seemed to shake her out of her bitter stupor, and she began with all her strength to pursue the opportunity that had presented itself. She grew enthusiastic and started to make every effort to influence and shape the situation so as to achieve the desired result.
The advice Naomi gave Ruth beforehand was that she should not go into another field — that she should show interest in no one but Boaz (2:22).
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” (Ruth 2:22)
In Naomi’s words one clearly senses the hope that by demonstrating devotion to Boaz, Ruth might manage to win him (v.23).
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. (Ruth 2:23)
A CRITICAL MOMENT
The moment between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three is very critical. On the one hand, Ruth and Boaz have already spent a good deal of time together — the barley and wheat harvests, which is about two months. On the other hand, the end of the harvest puts an end to the occasions for the meetings between Ruth and Boaz to continue.
Boaz and Ruth were evidently in love with one another. But before each of them stood a barrier that stood in the way of their shared future.
Because she was a foreigner and was poor, Ruth felt unworthy of Boaz (2:10,13).
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10)
13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” (Ruth 2:13)
Boaz’s problem, in turn, was that he thought he was too old for Ruth. In 3:10 he reveals his heart:
10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. (Ruth 3:10)
In addition, Boaz knew that there was another kinsman closer than himself, who had a greater claim to ask for Ruth’s hand (Ruth 3:12).
12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. (Ruth 3:12)
Boaz and Ruth definitely had feelings for one another, but they seemed to be afraid of them — they could not speak them out clearly and plainly.
Naomi, however, was perceptive enough to understand what was really going on between them. Once she was fully convinced that Ruth and Boaz were in love with one another, she decided to take matters into her own hands and not to let slip the unique opportunity to steer things in the direction she wanted. So Naomi decided to seize the decisive moment and set events in motion (3:1-2).
1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. (Ruth 3:1-2)
Naomi rightly judged that the time for a decision had come. But she leads people to rely on themselves instead of on God.
Before we look more closely at how she did this, let us look at the structure of chapters 2 and 3. What they have in common is that:
— both chapters begin with a conversation between the two widows;
— then Ruth leaves the house, either for the field or for the threshing floor;
— a conversation between Ruth and Boaz follows;
— in both cases Boaz at first does not recognize Ruth, and once he understands who she is, he finds far more than he expected;
— Ruth returns home blessed with food.
The two chapters are very much alike, but there are also many characteristic differences:
— In chapter two, while they talk, Ruth and Boaz are surrounded by a multitude of harvesters, and the action unfolds in broad daylight. In chapter three they are alone in the middle of the night;
— In chapter two their meeting is “accidental.” In chapter 3 it is deliberately arranged;
— The one who organized the meeting of Ruth and Boaz in chapter two is God. In chapter 3 the organizer is Naomi — perhaps that is why this meeting is at night and they are alone.
MANIPULATION THROUGH THE POWER OF CHARM
Everything Naomi advises her daughter-in-law has to do with Ruth’s outward attractiveness and the moment of her physical nearness to Boaz (v.3).
3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, (Ruth 3:3)
After advising her to take a bath, to put on perfume with an alluring scent and her finest outfit, Naomi told Ruth exactly at which moment she should approach Boaz (vv.3b-4).
but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” (Ruth 3:3-4)
Notice Naomi’s enticing tactic. She has Ruth surprise Boaz at a moment when he has eaten and drunk — that is, when his mind is clouded. On top of that she advises her to lie right down beside him and cover herself with his blanket — an act that would certainly create an extremely intimate atmosphere. Moreover, Ruth is to say nothing to Boaz — simply to bewitch him with her perfume and hope that he will be captivated by her presence (vv.5-8).
5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. (Ruth 3:5-7)
Ruth’s going to the threshing floor at night was not something in the ordinary course of things. In Ruth 3:14 it says:
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” (Ruth 3:14)
Naomi could have invited Boaz home and started an open conversation on the matter. I am sure the result would have been the same. But instead she chose to set in motion all her feminine wiles in order to secure the outcome she wanted. Naomi did not intend to make Ruth seduce Boaz on the threshing floor, and Ruth would certainly never have agreed to such a plan. But Naomi definitely hoped that the night, the alcohol, the attractiveness, and Ruth’s actions would create a strong enough sexual effect to make Boaz reach a decision based not on his sober judgment but on the romantic possibilities that Ruth’s presence promised him.
The problem is that a person cannot reach the place of security and rest — the very thing Naomi is striving for — by limiting people’s ability to make right decisions. You cannot build a relationship deep enough to be truly honest if at the same time you are learning how best to increase your partner’s inability to think soberly.
Hidden manipulation is not the means by which we can build security in our relationships. Politicians use this kind of manipulation during elections. But after the elections are over, the relationship between politicians and voters continues to be entirely shallow and bad.
This, however, must not happen among us, and especially not in the family. Intimate relationships must not be used as a means to an end. That undermines, erodes, and wears away a marriage.
Was there any benefit from putting the feminine wiles into play? Absolutely none. If they had talked in broad daylight and Ruth had been in her work clothes, the dialogue between Ruth and Boaz would have been no different.
SPREAD THE CORNER OF YOUR GARMENT OVER YOUR SERVANT
In vv.8-9 it says:
8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.” (Ruth 3:8-9)
The phrase “Spread the corner of your garment over your servant” is equivalent to the words “Marry me.” The “corner of the garment” here is not the hem of Boaz’s clothing, nor the blanket with which he had covered himself. In other words, she is saying, “Spread your covering over me as a husband.” Even today the Jews marry under a covering (a canopy), for which the same term is used that is translated “garment” in our text. In Ezekiel 16:8 the same expression is used of God, who enters into marriage with His young bride Israel.
In insisting that Boaz marry her, Ruth is not begging for charity but claiming what is hers by right according to God’s Law (Deuteronomy 25:5,6). Elimelech is dead, and Mahlon is dead, and their property and their land will be lost, and the name of one of Israel’s families will be forever blotted out and forgotten. Their relatives and kinsmen had a perfectly clear responsibility to preserve the property and to provide an heir. Ruth is simply appealing to Boaz to do what is right before the Lord. As in 2:2, so now she simply walks through the open door of Scripture!
We should also note that in Hebrew the word for garment in 3:9 is the same as the word for wings in 2:12 — „kanaph“ (Strong’s 3671).
12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. (Ruth 2:12)
The expression is a Hebrew idiom meaning shelter and protection. In Psalm 91:4, where the same word is used, it says:
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Psalm 91:4)
Ruth came to Israel to take refuge under the wings of the Lord, and now she asks Boaz: “Will you cover me under your wings? Are you willing to become the instrument through which God will cover me with His wings?”
THE UPRIGHTNESS OF BOAZ
Such a request completely satisfied Boaz. After in 2:12 he blessed Ruth with the words “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,” Boaz invited her to dinner and became the instrument through which God rewards her.
Ruth’s request could only make Boaz happy, because from it he understood that he was not (as he himself had supposed) too old to be of interest to the young Moabite woman (vv.10-13).
10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” (Ruth 3:10-13)
Boaz was not like Naomi. Naomi wanted to take advantage of her kinship connection with Boaz. Boaz too could have used the advantage of being a kinsman. But when Ruth asked him to marry her (v.10), he did not say, “Yes, I will do it.” Boaz did not keep silent about the fact that there was another man who had a greater right than he to marry Ruth. Even though he liked Ruth, Boaz waited on the Lord.
The decision to live by faith always carries risks. The risk lies in refusing to make a compromise, even if that very compromise is the way in which you could personally benefit to some degree. Faith often requires that we go on following God’s rules even when it seems this is to the detriment of our own interests.
Behind manipulation hides fear, but behind morality stands a mighty faith!
Because Ruth and Boaz had decided to live according to the guidance of God’s word, they could not begin to plan their wedding until the man who had the greater responsibility and right to marry Ruth had given up his claim to do so.
So Ruth and Boaz put everything on the line, risking the loss of their relationship for good, because of their desire to do what was right according to God’s law. What faithfulness, truly!
LORD, DON’T YOU CARE?
Let us see whom we are like — Naomi or Boaz. Do we go wrong as she did, often acting hastily and in a merely human way, or are we ready to trust God and to do what is right, even if it seems to be to our own detriment?
Very often the reason we do not do things God’s way is a lack of sufficient faith. When God delays, we begin to grow nervous and our faith begins to agonize. But in reality, all along, God is doing the best possible thing.
How often we assess God by our own measure, according to our own criteria. And when He does not match our notions of Him, we begin to shout at Him, “You are not the way you ought to be.” In such moments we act like Martha, who in Luke 10:40 turned to Jesus with the words:
Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me! (Luke 10:40)
At one point Martha grew exasperated with “the Lord’s inaction” and began to hold Him to account for His “mistakes.”
On another occasion, while they were sailing in the boat and a storm overtook them, Jesus’ disciples were indignant in a similar way at God’s calm (Mark 4:37-40):
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:37-40)
When a storm falls upon our “boat” (or our life) and the Lord delays to react at once, we grow angry at Him and begin to reproach Him. Then, clutching like a drowning man at a straw for every possible chance, we want to take control of things into our own hands.
But God is an “expert” at taking people who do not have much faith, who think they know better than He does how things ought to look, and who grow angry with Him because He does not act in the way they think He should — and teaching such people humility and faith. In the end He always brings us to the condition of Job, in which, together with him, we can say (Job 42:2-6):
2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2-6)