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1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.” 5 And she said to her, “All that you say to me I will do.” ~ Ruth 3:1-5
Today, we transition into the third chapter of Ruth where we go further into this romantic love story. More than a story of romance, the book of Ruth is more about the providence of God. And providence can be defined as God weaving together natural events supernaturally. It is where God works supernaturally naturally. He supernaturally allows natural events to be woven together for His glory and our good.
There are only 85 verses in the Book of Ruth, but there are a tremendous amount our spiritual principles discovered herein. For example, possibly going unnoticed is that Naomi has rid herself of her bitterness toward God and now she is thinking of others. This is the way it is in the life of the believer. On a given day, we can be defined by God's culture or we can be defined by the culture of the self life. When we are being defined by God, all sorts of good things come out of it, like caring for others.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, 'My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?'"
As the parent, in that society and within the times of their culture, it was Naomi's duty and responsibility to arrange a marriage for Ruth. The Hebrew word translated "seek security" used in this verse implies "rest" such as in a place of rest, like when Noah’s ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, or a state of rest, such as when there is freedom from labor resulting in general ease and contentment. Naomi was asking Ruth if she wanted to be granted a place of rest in a marriage.
As we previously mentioned, in those days, there was a law that required the "kinsman redeemer" to marry a widow resulting in her being able to rest from her labors. This unmarried man of the family was required by God to take the widow as his bride so that she was not left destitute. Now that Naomi is back in the position of being defined by the Lord, she suggests to Ruth to make her interest in Boaz known to him. Naomi knew the Scriptures and that God had a huge heart for the widows and the orphans. Since Boaz was older than Ruth by a generation, he would not have asked Ruth for her hand in marriage; Ruth had to make her interest in Boaz known before he would ask her to marry him. Through the once embittered Naomi, God was providentially at work on the behalf of Ruth.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor."
Creative Naomi comes up with a plan to get Ruth and Boaz alone so that Ruth can make her interests known to Boaz. The setting would be the threshing floors which were usually made out of bedrock. It was an elevated area out in the fields where the grain was collected. It was elevated so that in the afternoon when the winds came, the chaff was separated from the grain most easily.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do."
Since the death of her husband, Ruth had worn widow’s garments. For the first time since that occasion, she will now adorn herself in a beautiful garment or dress and be prepared in a most radiant way. Her clothes would smell wonderful, her face would glow from the bath, and her hair would be shiny from a handful of olive oil.
This is a story of not only Boaz becoming the redeemer of Ruth, this true historically verified story provides a picture of the Lord Jesus and those who follow Him. Every word and every detail in the story of Ruth was given to show us of the Lord's love, redemption, and restoration of those who would want to be His people. Every person mentioned in the story of Ruth is emblematic of another figure or precept which leads to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. The story of Ruth is truly a work of beauty, and, God has taken these real people with their truly human needs and desires, and has used them as examples of His redemption for those who were once the enemies of God.
To uncover his feet referred literally "the places of his feet." It was comparable to saying, "the foot of his bed." Boaz would probably be sleeping in his clothes and merely have a cover over his feet to keep them warm through the night. With this cover, Ruth would lay next to his feet and cover herself as a sign of submission. It would be as a servant might do when sleeping in a room with their master. These action, as instructed by Naomi and carried out by Ruth, would have been perfectly acceptable in their culture. Ruth was offering herself to the one who had the right to redeem her by taking advantage of the very law of redemption which the culture was guided by. Boaz was the one to perform the redemption, if Ruth so asked. And, so it is with the wooing of the Holy Spirit of the unbeliever to believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior. He called us in anticipation of us responding, but it was we who had to respond affirmatively to the His call.
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "And she said to her, 'All that you say to me I will do.'"
Naomi had certainly presented a rather risky venture for Ruth, one that could have potentially been fraught with danger should Boaz choose not to redeem her. What is truly amazing is the simple response given by Ruth, specifically "All that you say to me I will do." Ruth did not question Naomi’s plan; there was only a simple response of obedience. We should not be surprised at this because this is what Ruth has done throughout this book. Recently, I had a young man ask me, "If God has forgiven our sin, past, present and future, what is our motivation to obey God?" I responded, "It is intelligent to obey God for He has given us His word in order to inculcate His culture into our souls. And, quite frankly, it is rather foolish to think that we know better than God." Ruth obeyed because she understood this principle.
