Ruth 3: Unexpected Hope

Ruth 3 “At that time, Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you so you will be secure. Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor. So bathe yourself, rub on some perfumed oil, and get dressed up. Then go down to the threshing floor. But don’t let the man know you’re there until he finishes his meal. When he gets ready to go to sleep, take careful notice of the place where he lies down. Then go, uncover his legs, and lie down beside him. He will tell you what you should do.” Ruth replied to Naomi, “I will do everything you have told me to do.” So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do. When Boaz had finished his meal and was feeling satisfied, he lay down to sleep at the far end of the grain heap. Then Ruth crept up quietly, uncovered his legs, and lay down beside him. In the middle of the night he was startled…”

INTRODUCTION

Set the Stage

Ch 1

Naomi widowed, lost sons, Famine, Lost all hope

Returns to Bethlehem during the Barley harvest

God is Providing seeds of hope

Ch2

Ruth goes out to glean barley from the fields

God’s providence puts her in the path of Boaz

God works through Boaz to be provided for throughout the entire harvest season

The Situation

God has provided for them in the short term, they have food to eat. They were provided for during the Barley harvest and also the wheat harvest.

The immediate threat is removed. However, there is still a Long Term Threat for Naomi and Ruth

Naomi has a farm, and property, but without sons it’s not very useful to her

The Family was the core unit of society, not the individual

The “Plan” in any household is to have kids, preferably sons with strong backs to work the farm

And then those sons need to get married and also have sons with strong backs to work the fields.

In 2024 we live in a very “individualist” society. The family unit today is “mom, dad, kids” Nuclear family. But this has only really been the case in human history since less than 200 years ago. We today live in the weird times. For 98% of all of human history the Norm has been Generational family units.

The industrial revolution happened, and people started moving into the city to factories to work, which started the wheel rolling toward what we have now which is a hyper-individualist society. And in the year 2024 we are reaching what is in my opinion the end of that life-cycle. It’s a failed experiment. 100 years ago the average age to get married was around 21, today that number is set to surpass 30 on average. Our plan for taking care of the elderly is the government and taxes. That requires a strong work-force in society to pay taxes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that we are reaching a very dangerous end.

As a church we can do two very important things

We as the church need to act like a multi-generational family.

We need to stop spreading the myth to our kids and grand-kids and young people in our lives that they need to focus on their career first, family second. We need to encourage them to date, find love, get married, start families.

In Naomi's case, she desperately needs to find a way to get integrated back into the family system, so she devises a plan

The Plan

Naomi devises a plan for Ruth to convince Boaz to marry her

Ruth 3:1-5

Ruth 3:1–5 NET 2nd ed.

At that time, Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you so you will be secure. Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor. So bathe yourself, rub on some perfumed oil, and get dressed up. Then go down to the threshing floor. But don’t let the man know you’re there until he finishes his meal. When he gets ready to go to sleep, take careful notice of the place where he lies down. Then go, uncover his legs, and lie down beside him. He will tell you what you should do.” Ruth replied to Naomi, “I will do everything you have told me to do.”

Here’s what’s going on in this passage

Ruth has been in mourning. She would have been wearing mourning clothes and signaling to the world that she is unavailable. Naomi tells her to get dressed up, put on nice clothes, put on some perfume and make it clear that she is now ready to be married

Boaz has been working at the threshing floor

after the harvest all of the grain goes out to a large building outside of the walls of the city, that’s open on either end. and you take your grain and the stalks and you toss it up into the air

Because it’s in an open area away from any buildings, there’s a good cross breeze going through, so as you toss it up in the air the wind blows away the chaff, and the heavy grain falls back down to the ground.

while that’s going on your entire livelihood for the year is there in that building, outside the protective walls of the city. when the workday is over, you don’t go back into the city to sleep. you sleep right there. Because all it takes a couple of bandits roaming through and they can get away with your entire livelihood. So until you get the job done, and get everything bagged up and brought back into the protective city walls, you don’t leave that grain ple.

The Gist of the plan is this:

She tells her to go down to where boaz is working, wait until he’s had a full meal, and he’s in good spirits, he’s gotten some rest from his work, and wait til he’s asleep, uncover his legs while he’s sleeping, so that he’ll wake up and notice her

and from there she can execute the plan, and hopefully, if everything goes according to plan he’ll as her to marry him. then he’ll be able to provide a son for Naomi through Ruth, as a surrogate. and they’ll be able to start a family again, and begin the process of building up that family unit that’s so valuable

Key in that statement is “if everything goes according to plan” The original audience would have immediately seen about a million ways where this plan has the potential to go horribly wrong.

She’s going down to the threshing floor

Ruth 3:2 NET 2nd ed.

Now Boaz, with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative. Look, tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor.

The Threshing floor had a reputation for being the place where the prostitutes would visit at night.

Think about it, it’s outside the city, there’s a bunch of men out there working, they sleep there over night. It’s away from where anybody would see what’s going on. It’s the perfect place for that kind of thing to go on.

Naomi tells ruth to get dressed up and go down to the threshing floor in the middle of the night

It would take one person, just one, to catch her, to see her, to recognize her

and her reputation would be over. Done, completely cooked. She would forever be known as the moabite widow who showed up, hussled an old man for some grain, and then turned to being a prostitute.

Second thing that could go wrong

Ruth 3:3 NET 2nd ed.

So bathe yourself, rub on some perfumed oil, and get dressed up. Then go down to the threshing floor. But don’t let the man know you’re there until he finishes his meal.

You have a moabite woman, who is trying to secure an heir, so she goes down and waits until boaz has eaten and drunk his fill in the middle of the night

And the original audience and the savvy bible reader should immediately be reminded of another story with striking parallels from the book of genesis that did not end well at all.

The original audience would have picked up on this immediately

Gen 19:30-38

Genesis 19:30–38 NET 2nd ed.

Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. Later the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the country to sleep with us, the way everyone does. Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine so we can go to bed with him and preserve our family line through our father.” So that night they made their father drunk with wine, and the older daughter came in and went to bed with her father. But he was not aware of when she lay down with him or when she got up. So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger, “Since I went to bed with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. Then you go in and go to bed with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they made their father drunk that night as well, and the younger one came and went to bed with him. But he was not aware of when she lay down with him or when she got up. In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

The original audience would have heard naomi’s plan and immediately thought to themselves, oh not, this isn’t going to be good

Like it or not, there was a bias against the moabites. They were enemies of the jews, they had a bad reputation, and this story from genesis was their origin story. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to see that this story about Lot’s daughters painted all moabites in a bad light.

If those two things weren’t bad enough, then we get to Naomi’s actual instructions when she gets there.

Ruth 3:4 NET 2nd ed.

When he gets ready to go to sleep, take careful notice of the place where he lies down. Then go, uncover his legs, and lie down beside him. He will tell you what you should do.”

There are three hebrew words used in this one sentance that had sexual euphamistic undertones.

When naomi says “uncover” his legs, the word “uncover” was sometimes used as a euphamism.

His “legs” your bible might say feet, was also used as a euphamism for the male anatomy.

The word “lie with” was used as a euphamism for have sex with.

It’s clear from the context that naomi is not intending any of these undertones to be used in her plan. Her plan is extremely innocent.

What naomi tells her is: Put on clothes that show you’re not in mourning, go down to where boaz is working, be discrete, uncover his legs so that you can get his attention quietly and discretely, and ask him to marry you.

What the original audience of ruth though when they read this was

Oh, no, what if ruth competley misreads the situation here? what if she totally doesn’t understand the assignment.

Because what naomi said could be understood to be innocent.

But it could be also understood to mean

Put on some attractive clothes and go down where the prostitutes go, and do what moabites do best, if you know what I’m saying,and wait til boaz is full, and has had his fill of wine, and go sleep with him.

which would be disasterous. that would be the worst plan ever, and it would all but guarantee that their hope for a future would be completely dashed.

So the original audience is reading the seciton leading into verse 6 with their hands over their eyes.

The Execution of the Plan

Ruth 3:6 NET 2nd ed.

So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.

Ruth 3:7 NET 2nd ed.

When Boaz had finished his meal and was feeling satisfied, he lay down to sleep at the far end of the grain heap. Then Ruth crept up quietly, uncovered his legs, and lay down beside him.

all of those euphamism words are still there in the passage.

So at this point if you’re the original audience you’re still wondering.

Did she do everything naomi asked? Did she go to the threshing floor and uncover his legs and lay down beside her?

or did she go to the “threshing floor” and “uncover” his “legs” and “lay” beside him?

It’s honestly anxiety inducing. Because if she does the right thing it’s going to go wonderful, if she does the wrong thing then their reputation is over, and it’s going to be a disaster.

Ruth 3:8 NET 2nd ed.

In the middle of the night he was startled and turned over. Now he saw a woman lying beside him!

Ruth 3:9 NET 2nd ed.

He said, “Who are you?” She replied, “I am Ruth, your servant. Marry your servant, for you are a guardian of the family interests.”

It’s not until verses 8 and 9 that wefinally get the sigh of relief, and we realize, oh thank heavens, she did the right thing. She did the noble thing,

Boaz says to her

Ruth 3:10 NET 2nd ed.

He said, “May you be rewarded by the Lord, my dear! This act of devotion is greater than what you did before. For you have not sought to marry one of the young men, whether rich or poor.

Ruth 3:11 NET 2nd ed.

Now, my dear, don’t worry! I intend to do for you everything you propose, for everyone in the village knows that you are a worthy woman.

The Wrinkle

As we go into chapter 4 we’re going to get introduced to one more little wrinkle in the saga that I want to introduce, but we’re going to end on another cliff hanger

Ruth 3:12 NET 2nd ed.

Now yes, it is true that I am a guardian, but there is another guardian who is a closer relative than I am.

Ruth 3:13 NET 2nd ed.

Remain here tonight. Then in the morning, if he agrees to marry you, fine, let him do so. But if he does not want to do so, I promise, as surely as the Lord lives, to marry you. Sleep here until morning.”

This wrinkle, that we’ll dive into more, this cliffhanger note, has to do with the fact that someone else is closer in line, legally, to be able to redeem namoi and ruth and the family lineage.

We know that Boaz is generous. We know that boaz is willing to provide, and do the right thing.

He’s trustworthy

We don’t know who this other guy is. He could be a terrible provider, he could be a terrible husband, he could be a horrible person. We just don’t know. So the cliffhanger question that we’re left on as we go into chapter 4 is, who is this other guy, and how is he going to fit into the whole situation.

But for the time being Boaz is on the case, and he has promised he’s going to settle the matter

The rest of the story

Ruth 3:14–18 NET 2nd ed.

So she slept beside him until morning. She woke up while it was still dark. Boaz thought, “No one must know that a woman visited the threshing floor.” Then he said, “Hold out the shawl you are wearing and grip it tightly.” As she held it tightly, he measured out about sixty pounds of barley into the shawl and put it on her shoulders. Then he went into town, and she returned to her mother-in-law. When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did things turn out for you, my daughter?” Ruth told her about all the man had done for her. She said, “He gave me these sixty pounds of barley, for he said to me, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ” Then Naomi said, “Stay put, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of the matter today.”

The Takeaway

Leaving aside the cliffhanger, at the end of this chapter, what can we take away from this chapter?

What we don’t take away from this

If we’re just faithful enough, and obedient enough, and just do the right thing enough, then god will remove our troubles

That is an overly simplistic view, and in my opinion, it’s a dangerous view to have

That’s not the way it works.

My favorite passage of scripture to illustrate this comes from the book of John where Jesus says

John 16:33 NET 2nd ed.

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.”

I think the message of “if you’re just faithful enough, if you’re just obedient enough, then God will remove all your pain and suffering, then god will just remove all your troubles, I think that’s a bad read on the text. I think it makes for a weak faith.

Rather: I think that we should look at this passage in terms of what it tells us about God

God works with unexpected People

The lead up to the book of ruth had to do with the israelites, and their failure to keep god’s covenant

here, we have a moabite woman, a foriegner. a woman who the entire original audience had reservations about.

We have someone who had no business being involved in this promise.

And God chose her, to be a part of his plan to redeem naomi.

God works with the people that you and I would normally write off as not worthy.

God’s covenant wasn’t with moab. God didn’t owe any moabites anything. His promises were to israel, his covenant was through israel, and yet here he is taking the least suspecting person and redeeming her.

God works with unexpected Circumstances

This plan should have never worked.

This plan had a million and one ways to go wrong, this plan was, by human standards, a terrible plan.

But God seems to thrive using unexpected people in unexpected circumstances

Look what Jesus did

If you and I could get in a time machine and go back and talk to jesus

and imagine we don’t have the benefit of hindsight

And we say, ok Jesus, you’re the messiah, what’s your plan?

And he says: well I was thinking about gathering up some disciples

Sweet, what are we thinking here, some scribes? some priests maybe? some prominent men in the community, good public speakers, people everyone trusts,

Jesus goes no, I was thinking about these fishemen over here, and maybe that guy, he’s a tax collector, a traitor to his own people, everyone hates him. And then I think I might get some women, some poor people

OK, not my first choice, but ok. So where are you going to be, who are you going to preach to? influential people? kings? religious leaders? are you going to hang out in Jerusalem? that’s the hub of israel

Jesus goes, no I was thinking about going to gallilee, off the beaten path, and I was thinking about maybe hanging out with lepers, sinners, maybe some parlytics.

OK, and so you get this ragtag team together, and then you’re going to go to jersalem, right? he goes yep that’s the plan.

Ok good, so then you’re going to go to jerusalem, and make nice with the religious leaders, they’re super influential, everyone likes them, you get on their good side, you’ll have a good reputation

No actually I was thinking about going there and really pointing out all the things that they’re doing wrong, and then telling them that I’m the son of God so that they murder me.

God works with unexpected Purposes

What we don’t understand in our time machine, is that God’s purpose was to defeat death and sin in the world

What we don’t understand, and what we won’t understand until the very end of chapter 4, is that God is not just working to redeem naomi. He’s not just working to redeem ruth

Because spoiler alert, the child that ruth is going to have, is going to end up being the grandfather of King David

That king david himself in the book of 1st samuel ends up being a completely unexpected person. The youngest scrawniest brother who God picks out of the blue to be king

And then God makes a promise with david unexpectedly that one of his decendents will be the king who rules on the throne for eternity. One of his decendents will build the mighty temple, and we aren’t talking about solomon here. Not the temple made with stones that was destroyed once by the babylonians, and then rebuilt, and then destroyed a second time by the roman. Not that temple

This temple. The temple that is the church, the stones that are his people, the cornerstone taht is Christ.

The temple that can never be destroyed.

All the way back in the barley fields. When a widow went out to collect grain to survive through the winter, we see an act of kindness, and a couple of widows who are being provided for

God sees his plan to redeem the entire world playing out.

God sees you sitting here reading this story, thousands of years later, and all the way back during the time of the judges God is working on a level beyond which we have no ability to comprehend.

God takes unexpected people like ruth, and he uses them to carryout unexpected plans, like the crazy scheme at the threshing floor, and he uses them for unexpected purposes. To redeem the world through a son, through a cross. Through an empty grave.

I ask you