That Kind Of Redeemer (Part III)

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Ruth stays with Naomi and continues to glean in Boaz’s field until the harvest is over. Every day Naomi gets more impatient, she cooks up a plan and serves it casually to Ruth,

"My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on 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. 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 (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 3.1-4)."

This is a very detailed plan which Naomi obviously put a lot of thought into. She lets Ruth know that Boaz is Ruth’s to claim any time she wants to. In fact, Naomi wants Ruth to claim him tonight. She mentions a threshing floor. A threshing floor is a circular flat place on top of a hill where harvesters would lay the grain stalks out and crush them to separate the grain from the chaff (Vernon 88-120). Once the grain stalks were crushed, what was left was thrown up into the air. The chaff would blow away and the grain would fall back down (Ernest, et al. 126-133, 318). After the threshing is finished they worshiped, had a meal, and lay down on the threshing floor to sleep with their legs out like spokes of a wheel (Vernon 88-120).  Naomi is telling Ruth to look her best, smell her best, and dress her best for her redeemer. Imagine Boaz's surprise to wake up in the middle of the night to see a beautiful, well dressed, clean woman at his feet. He asked "Who are you?" Ruth replied to him, "I am your servant Ruth . . . Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsmen-redeemer (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 3.9)." Ruth just told him that she wants him as her kinsmen-redeemer and that brightened his mood a great deal, his dream girl just told him that she wants to get married to him.

Boaz is ecstatic. "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. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsmen-redeemer nearer than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as sure as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 3.10-13." Boaz has been in awe of this woman's attitude since he met her. She does not complain (like another "bitter" woman he knows) and her character really is noble. When Boaz found out she was a Moabite he was probably expecting her to run after any man she saw, for that was the stereotype of the Moabite women of his day. But no, Ruth was different, he saw that and fell hard for her. She is hard working, she provides for her family of one, and she is faithful to the LORD and to Naomi. That is a woman any man would want to marry.

Boaz told her that there was a kinsmen nearer than him. Boaz is—just like Ruth—a noble character; even though he loves Ruth dearly, he is going to allow this man who is a nearer kinsman than himself a fair chance to marry her. Boaz may be giving this other man a chance to marry Ruth but he still has a few cards to play. To be redeemed one had to be related to the redeemer. That's why Christ came down on this earth to be a man (he was fully man and fully God at the same time) so he could redeem us and pay the price for our sins.

Boaz tells Ruth to stay with him until morning. What many think to be a seducing gesture is merely something an Israelite gentleman would say. Back in the days of the judges, the highways weren't safe—much like today—and people ran through the fields instead (Vernon 88-120). Boaz was looking out for Ruth's safety. The girl of Boaz's dreams just asked him to be her kinsmen-redeemer—what is he supposed to do? — just tell her, "Scuttle along now. Don't get killed on the highway. Better yet, take walk through the fields home in the dark. Don't trip." Ruth would be having second thoughts about who her redeemer would be.

Ruth laid by Boaz's feet until the early morning. Boaz told her, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 3.14)." Boaz does not say this out of embarrassment. He knew gossip would spread though, and he did not want the other kinsman to know (Vernon 88-120). Boaz does not want Ruth to go back empty handed so he gives her some barley to carry home in her shawl.

Ruth gets home and tells Naomi everything that has happened, girl talk. By now Ruth is anxious and wants to know when she will be redeemed. "Then Naomi says, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 3.18)." Naomi knows Boaz and how determined he is to fulfill a goal, Naomi is telling Ruth that Boaz will do the redeeming for her. We can liken Naomi to someone who knows Christ, anyone who knows Christ knows that he does the redeeming for us. There is nothing that we can do to count towards our own redemption, if there was something we could do then Jesus died for us in vain.
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Bibliography

Deen, Edith. All of the Women of the Bible. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
     81-87. Print


George, Elizabeth. A Devotional Walk with the Women of the Bible: Women Who Loved God.
     Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1999. 142-154. Print


Heaton, E. W. Everyday Life in Old Testament Times. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
     1956. 60-61. Print


McGee, J. Vernon. Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee: Joshua through Psalms 2.
     Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988. 88-120. Print


The Teen Study Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998.
     317-321. Print


Wright, G. Ernest, Vaughn E. Crawford, Stephen J. Hartdegen, Laton E. Holmgren, Robert H.
     Johnston, James B. Pritchard, Nahum M. Sarna, Patrick W. Skehan, et al., Great
     People of the Bible and How They Lived. Sydney, Australia: The Reader's Digest
     Association, 1974. 126-133, 318. Print