Ruth 3:1-18.  So in the midst of  a time of horrible selfishness we have seen a bright light shining through.  We have seen faithfulness and concern for God’s word in the most unlikely place, in a Moabite woman. We have also seen the kindness (hesed) of God shining in the life of Boaz.  It is important to keep this in mind as we read today’s section because it is kind of weird.

Remember it has been only a couple of months since Naomi and Ruth have been home.  The beginning of the barley harvest was in late April and the wheat harvest ended in June.  And Moab was pretty close to Bethlehem, maybe a week’s walk.  So Ruth has been a widow for three of four months.  Ruth has been living with and faithfully caring for Naomi this whole time.  In Ruth 3:1 we find Naomi concerned for Ruth’s future (see the comments on chapter 1, 8/16/12).  So Naomi comes up with a plan and it involves the knd kinsman, Boaz.

Remember Boaz seems to be in a good place financially.  He has land and servant.  His land is productive and his servants respect him.  He probably lived in town and was probably surrounded by people most of the time, but as a hard working involved farmer he was going to be out by the field helping winnow or separate the barley crop.  Naomi saw an opportunity.  But it’s been at least a month since Boaz first met Ruth and remember she had a very good reputation with him, but he hasn’t made a move.  In 2 Samuel 12:15-24 we have part of a story about the king of Israel, David,  and the woman whose husband he had murdered after he got her pregnant, Bathsheba.  David’s actions were completely evil and he was trying to hid them.  But God saw and as a punishment to David and Bathsheba he caused the baby to get sick and then to die ( I know, but we’ll have to talk about that later).  While the baby was sick David prayed and fasted and was very upset, as if he were mourning.  When the baby died he got up, bathed, and put on clothes.  Then he went to the temple to worship God.   His actions seemed backwards to every one but his reasoning was if he was truly sorry about what he had done maybe God would let the baby live, so he seriously showed sorrow over his sins.  But when the baby died he knew the baby was in the hands of God and all he could do was honor God.  The interesting thing here is that the clothes he put on (2 Samuel 12:20) are referred to using the exact same Hebrew word (simla) that is used in Ruth 3:3 when Naomi tells Ruth to put on certain clothes.  In Genesis 38:14 a different word is used (beged) for the clothes that Tamar wore when she was in mourning.  It is very likely that the whole time Ruth was working in the field she was mourning the death of her husband.  For Boaz to have “hit on” her would have been very inappropriate (In 2 Samuel 11:27 David had to wait until the “time of mourning was finished before he could marry Bathsheba).

So now Naomi has told Ruth to stop mourning and go to where Boaz is.  But this is a tricky situation.  Only loose women approached men, it happened a lot out on the threshing floor.  Naomi wanted a future for her daughter-in-law not a one night stand, and Boaz’ reputation needed to be protected too.  So Naomi tells Ruth to get out of her mourning clothes and go hide by the threshing floor.  When everyone is done eating and going to bed for the night Ruth is supposed to sneak up on Boaz and squirt him with shaving cream.  No! No1 No! She’s supposed to uncover his feet and then lie down.  What is that all about?  Well the clothing she was wearing was also considered a person’s “warm coat”.  It is what poor people would wear out in the open at night if they were sleeping out of doors.  By uncovering Boaz feet Ruth would be exposing them to the night air, with the possibility of him eventually waking up (I personally like a feather to the nose but that probably wouldn’t be right for a serious young woman).  Notice Naomi doesn’t tell Ruth to hop into bead with Boaz, some scholars think that is what is going on here but that doesn’t fit the character of our two main characters and as I said above it certainly won’t bring Ruth security.

Boaz does wake up and notices a woman at his feet.  Is this one of the prostitutes who frequently came out to the threshing floor during the harvest?  No it is Ruth.  As she identifies herself she asks him to become her protector.  Your translation might say spread your covering over me but the idea is one of protection and providing not sex.  Literally the Hebrew asks him to “Spread his wings over her.”  It is a reference to protection.  Basically she was asking him to marry her. You can see this in his response.  He blesses her for her faithfulness and purity (“not going after young men”).  Under the kinsman redeemer tradition the kinsman had to raise up a child to preserve the dead man’s lineage.  But this would require a faithful woman too, and Ruth was just such a woman.  In verse 12 Boaz sort of accepts her proposal and again comments on her outstanding character, she has a great reputation among his servants, family  and friends.  But there is a wrinkle in this love story, there is a closer relative who has first responsibility and first right in the matter.  Ruth is to wait while Boaz talks to this other relative, in the morning.

Boaz doesn’t want her wandering the roads at night (remember this is the time of the Judges) so she stays till morning.  Very early she got up.  Boaz also shows his continuing concern for her and Naomi by giving her quite a bit of barley to take home.  So she returns home to wait.  Naomi can see that Boaz is a man of his word and a man of action, she knows that the whole thing will be settled by nightfall.

Oh the suspense.  Will Ruth marry Boaz or will she be redeemed by this mystery man?  For now she must wait and have her faith stretched.  And she has been faithful and respectful but she has also been bold in her faith.  Now she must do the hardest part.  So much could go wrong (and almost does as we will see tomorrow).  Faith and trials go hand in hand, if life was always easy we wouldn’t need faith.  We might thing that things have gone pretty well so far for Ruth, but remember she is a widow, living in a different culture, living by new customs, trusting in a new God, working hard to survive.  When has had a lot of trials and most of them are because of her faith.  Even Boaz mentions that she has given up chasing young men because she is respecting the kinsman redeemer tradition.  We need to be careful that we don’t try to avoid the hard things in life.  We need to get a clear picture of what God wants and then follow through on it.  It will be tense and intense some times but God is there and he cares.  Remember he is the one who set up the system of gleaning and kinsman redeeming to begin with.  We need to be patient in the mean time knowing that he will resolve out trouble at the right time.

God help me be patient.  Help me trust. And help me understand and be faithful.  Make me like Ruth as I wait for your salvation.  Help us all trust in you.