Ruth 3

Ruth’s Redemption Assured

¹One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that it may be well with you? ²Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³Therefore wash yourself, put on perfume, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but do not let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴When he lies down, note the place where he lies. Then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will explain to you what you should do.”

• RUTH 3:2[NOTE]A threshing floor was a flat open place where grain was beaten loose and tossed in the evening wind, so the chaff blew away. At harvest time the men slept there to guard the grain.
• RUTH 3:4[NOTE]UNCOVER HIS FEET. Most readers, Jewish and Christian, take this as a bold but pure way for Ruth to ask Boaz to marry her. Some scholars think the words have a double meaning. See the Big Question pages The Threshing Floor.

⁵“I will do everything you say,” Ruth answered. ⁶So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.

⁷After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

• RUTH 3:7[HEART]After the harvest meal Boaz's heart was merry. The Hebrew says his heart was good: full, happy and at peace after a hard day's work.

⁸At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman!

⁹“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”

• RUTH 3:9[NOTE]SPREAD THE CORNER OF YOUR GARMENT. The Hebrew says your wing, kanaf, the same word as His wings in 2:12. It was a way to ask for marriage, Ezekiel 16:8. Boaz prayed for God to cover Ruth, and now he can be the answer.

¹⁰Then Boaz said, “May Yahweh bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹And now do not be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you request, since all my fellow townspeople know that you are a woman of noble character. ¹²Yes, it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I. ¹³Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as Yahweh lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”

• RUTH 3:11[NOTE]A WOMAN OF NOBLE CHARACTER is the same Hebrew phrase as Proverbs 31:10. In the oldest complete Hebrew Bible, Ruth comes right after Proverbs.

¹⁴So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her.

Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley and placed it on her. Then he went into the city.

• RUTH 3:15[NOTE]SIX MEASURES. The Hebrew says only six of barley and does not name the measure. It was a big gift, as much as Ruth could carry home.

¹⁶When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then Ruth told her all that Boaz had done for her. ¹⁷And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

¹⁸“Wait, my daughter,” said Naomi, “until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.”