Lie here until morning." 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor." 15 He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good let him redeem. But there is one twist.ġ2 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. She made her reputation through her hesed, her servant’s heart, and he knows she will be an honorable wife. He even says that the townsmen know she is a woman of noble character – eshet chayil. And so he is willing to pay the social and financial costs of welcoming this despised outsider into his family. She chose family loyalty over love or money. Instead of going after younger men, she chose him in order to redeem Naomi and provide an heir for her. He is impressed again by her hesed shown towards Naomi. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.īoaz calls her “My daughter” – he will not take advantage of her. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. Boaz has no responsibility to marry her, but she appeals to his hesed.ġ0 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. She is asking him to, at his own cost, rescue them from poverty and childlessness. And the fact that she is a Moabite woman, a foreigner, makes it even riskier. Proposing marriage is certainly unorthodox for a woman. Covering one with a robe was the equivalent of giving an engagement ring.īy invoking the goel custom, she makes it about family duty of providing Naomi an heir. She asks him to spread the corner of his garment over her. Naomi told her to be quiet and let him take the initiative, but she speaks up and makes her intentions known. Whatever Naomi’s intentions may have been, Ruth makes her intentions clear. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer." 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.
She tells him to lie at his feet and uncover them so that the cold breeze will wake him up.ħ 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. Either Naomi is proposing that Ruth seduce Boaz, or just that she should propose marriage. Boaz was probably sleeping out there to protect the grain. The threshing floor was an open space of exposed bedrock or hard, stamped earth where the husks were removed from the kernels of the grain. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. He will tell you what to do." 5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. And so she comes up with a plan.Ģ Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. This is a sign that Naomi is doing better – she is not just bitter and depressed. It is customary to try to marry off a daughter. NIV Ruth 3:1 - One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?
Naomi begins to trust again in the hesed of the Lord. But in chapter 2, they experience some of God’s hesed in the form of Boaz, a kinsman-redeemer (goel in Hebrew) who allows Ruth to glean on his land and provides food for them. Naomi returns to Israel bitter, with Ruth determined to stay with her and care for her. But they experience tragedy when all three of the men die, leaving three vulnerable widows. While there, their sons marry foreign woman, Ruth and Orpah. In the beginning, Naomi and Elimelech doubt God’s hesed and leave Israel for Moab during a famine. One of the major themes has been “hesed,” the Hebrew word that refers to all the positive things – compassion, loyalty, mercy, and love – that accompany a covenantal relationship. This morning, we are continuing in our study of Ruth.
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