Ruth 3 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Ruth 3:1-8

1 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!

A. Find Out:

1. What concern does Naomi have & who does she speak about? v.1,2
2. How does she instruct Ruth to prepare? v.3a
3. What does she tell her to do? v.3b,4
4. What was Ruth’s response? v.5,6
5. What actually happened? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. What was Naomi’s worry about the future?
2. What possible solution obviously does she see?
3. What does this passage show about Ruth?

C. Comment:

     Collecting leftovers from the harvest as a means of provision can only go on for a limited time. Having come back to Bethlehem without a husband and now a lot older, Naomi has a problem – she has no means of support and no one in the (extended) family seems to be suggesting help.

     The answer that comes to this Jewish mother is perfectly natural – her daughter-in-law needs a husband. She herself is too old for anyone to show interest in her, but Ruth isn’t. More than this, the recent circumstances seem to indicate hope. Ruth has been working in the fields of Boaz and he is an unmarried man, and one who may feel the responsibility of the wider family to look after them.

     Naomi’s instructions to Ruth suggest no impropriety, simply a way for Ruth to present herself to Boaz in a favourable manner that shows her intentions and allows him to respond. Placing your coat or cloak over someone, in those days, was an indication of your desire to protect or cover them, to look after them, i.e. an offer of committed relationship – marriage. For Ruth to take the initiative rather than the man, was a little unorthodox and so should be done in a way that is pleasing to the man – done in private, so he will not be embarrassed by others seeing, but at the same time yet public so there is no impropriety. The plan is that she will do it, therefore, after the end-of-harvest feast, when Boaz is feeling good and after everyone has laid down to rest. Smart mother-in-law!

D. Application:

1. Sometimes we have to put ourselves in a place of possible blessing.
2. Thereafter we must trust in the Lord and other people.

Passage: Ruth 3:8-15

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 of our family.’

10 ‘The Lord bless you, my daughter,’ he replied. ‘This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.’

14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognised; and he said, ‘No one must know that a woman came to the threshing-floor.’

15 He also said, ‘Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.’ When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

A. Find Out:

1. What did Ruth ask when Boaz woke in the middle of the night? v.9
2. Why did this touch Boaz? v.10
3. How did he respond? v.11
4. What problem was there and how would he deal with it? v.12,13
5. So what happened? v.14
6. How did he bless her before she left? v.15

B. Think:

1. How does Boaz show his righteousness in this passage?
2. How is the future hopeful but uncertain for Ruth now?

C. Comment:

      It is the middle of the night and dark. There may be some light from a fire probably and Boaz is aware of the presence of a woman (by her perfume?) and quietly asks who it is. Ruth tells him and asks him to become her husband using the language and custom of the day. Boaz is touched by this because he is an older man and Ruth is a very eligible young woman. He will gladly take her for a wife because she is well known for her goodness.

    Yet there is a problem. According to custom and the Law (Deut 25:5), when a husband died and the wife was still young, it was the duty of the nearest unmarried brother-in-law to marry her and look after her, and Boaz is aware that there is another who is more closely related than he. Because he is a righteous man he wants to strictly abide by the Law and give that man an opportunity to marry Ruth, but if that man doesn’t want to do that, and marry a foreigner (not said but reasonably implied), then Boaz will gladly marry Ruth and care for her.

     Although all of this may appear strange to our understanding today, yet there was a gentle, respectful, caring and honouring in all of this which in no way demeaned Ruth. The Law was there to provide guidance for right actions to ensure the care of those who were vulnerable, and every righteous person would submit their own will to it. These two people indicate by their behaviour they are both honourable and righteous people.

D. Application:

1. Does our society provide caring in such a respectful manner?
2. Do we seek to honour God’s Law in every part of our lives?

[Remaining verses are with chapter 4]