“Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.” Ruth 3:2
Read Ruth 3:1-9 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. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, 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.”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. 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[b] of our family.”
While their present position was probably much better than either had ever imagined, Naomi began to think on a grander scale: should Ruth remarry, both their futures should be secure.
Following Naomi’s instructions, we witness Ruth preparing for the most important date of her life!
Tonight Boaz would be on the threshing floor. It would be a night of work, a night of feasting, and a night of celebration. He and all his many workers present would give God thanks for the abundance of the harvest.
In order for a more private moment, Ruth needed to wait until Boaz had lain down to sleep for the night. (Sleeping on the threshing floor was a common practice, the work would immediately begin the next day.)
Her act of uncovering his feet was not inappropriate in the least. By doing this, she was conveying to him she wanted him to ask her to marry.
When she asked for him to cover her with the corner of his cloak, she was asking him to cover her future by marrying her, and cover her heart by accepting her as his future wife.
Life Application
Ruth and Naomi hoped Boaz would act as kinsman-redeemer. (This term and the implications will be more throughly investigated on Thursday.) By marrying Ruth, Boaz would keep the property in the family, and should he and Ruth have a son, the first-born son would be named after Ruth’s first husband. This was done to keep the heritage of the land, and the family name all in order. Nothing was to be obliterated from the history of the descendants of the tribes of Israel.
Christ is our kinsman redeemer. He came back for each one of us. We are each sinful and separated from God, yet Christ came back to restore us to God, to keep our names in the Book of Life. Christ already redeemed us, we simply need to acknowledge who we are and who He is. We do not need to ask for his actions: He already did what was necessary. We don’t need to ask Christ to cover us with His cloak, as Ruth asked Boaz. Christ is just waiting for us to accept the corner of the cloak His nail scarred hands are offering.
Thanks for reading! Please return by Tuesday, June 11 for the next post.