Meeting on the Threshing Floor

Naomi’s Instruction - Relationship Advise?

How you met your spouse?

Did you have help?

Who gave you advise?

Did it work out?

Based on Jewish tradition the wheat and barley harvest fell 50 days from each other. The Barley harvest comes first, followed by the wheat harvest. Traditionally the Isrealites would make the day of Barley harvest and count 7 weeks of 7 days before harvesting the wheat.

Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s fields through both harvests so she had at least 49 days to get to be around Boaz and for Boaz to observe Ruth. By the end of the wheat harvest they knew each other.

Now, Naomi has some relationship advise for Ruth.

Ruth 3:1–6 (ESV)

1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

same word for rest as in Ruth 1:9

Ruth 1:9 ESV

The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

2 Is not Boaz our relative (goel), with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

The goel — sometimes translated kinsman-redeemer — had a specifically defined role in Israel’s family life.

The kinsman-redeemer was responsible to buy a fellow Israelite out of slavery (Leviticus 25:48).

He was responsible to be the “avenger of blood” to make sure the murderer of a family member answered to the crime (Numbers 35:19).

He was responsible to buy back family land that had been forfeited (Leviticus 25:25).

He was responsible to carry on the family name by marrying a childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”

5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

Boaz’s Responds as a Redeemer (Type of Christ)

Ruth 3:7–13 (ESV)

7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.

1 Peter 5:5–6 ESV

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!

9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”

Ruth Reminds Boaz of his previous statement in Ruth 2:12

Ruth 2:12 ESV

The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Psalm 32:7 ESV

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.

12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.

13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”

What is a type of Christ

Types have the following characteristics:

1. They are thoroughly rooted in history. Jonah's experience is just as credible as the momentous event which was the foreshadowing a type of Christ (Matthew 12:40).

2. Types are prophetic in nature. They always point forward to messianic times. Melchizedek (Genesis 14) becomes the spiritual prefiguration of Christ's eternal priesthood (Psalms 110; Hebrews 7).

3. Types are definitely designed as an integral part of redemptive history. They serve a purpose in the course of history.

4. Types are Christocentric. They all point to Christ in one way or another. If the Old Testament as a whole has Christ as its subject (Luke 24:24,44; Acts 3:24ff), surely the types anticipate his redemption of fallen mankind.

5. They are edifying, having spiritual meaning for God's people. Our faith is confirmed and built up as we consider the finger of God in the making of history.

Boaz was a wealthy Bethlehemite of the tribe of Judah, who married Ruth (the Gentile bride). As the Goel(the Kinsman-Redeemer) I have no doubt that Boaz is a type of Christ, Christ who became incarnate, springing from Judah too, in order to acquire for himself a bride from the Gentile nations.

Protecting Ruth’s Virtue

Ruth 3:14–18 (ESV)

14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.

16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,

17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’ ”

18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”