Lenten Journey: The Plot Thickens

"All that you tell me I will do." Ruth 3:5

Ruth Chapter 3

As we begin chapter three, the plot thickens. Naomi feels responsible for Ruth and devises a plan to prod Boaz into marrying Ruth. Under the Levirate Law (an ancient Israelite law), if a man dies before he produces an heir, his brother must marry the widow in order to give descendants to the dead brother. Ruth doesn't have a brother-in-law, but Boaz is her next of kin so he is the perfect candidate.

Naomi gives Ruth specific instructions on everything she must do. Ruth had the good sense to listen. She perfumed herself, dressed in her most beautiful clothes and waited at the threshing floor until Boaz had eaten a good meal. Naomi knew that a man with a full stomach was easier to handle.

The threshing floor was the center of activity and the workers would sleep on the threshing floor to protect the mounds of grain from being stolen. When Boaz finally lays down to sleep, Ruth approached him where he lay. When I first read this, I did not like where this was headed. My first instinct was to misjudge Ruth. That is so typical of me. I told you a few days ago that I have this bad tendency of judging a book by its cover. So right away, I thought that Ruth was going to become a harlot like Boaz's mother had been. But that was not the case at all. Ruth was a woman of worth. Lying beside Boaz, Ruth suggested that because he was a relative of her dead husband, he should "cover her with his blanket", a euphemism for marriage.

Just as Naomi had predicted, Boaz happily agreed, but pointed out to her that there was another man who had that right, a closer relative even than himself. Boaz was a man of honor so he will give the opportunity to that relative to marry Ruth. If the relatives chooses not to marry Ruth, then Boaz will become her husband.

Ruth stayed beside Boaz until morning, stealing away before first light to return to Naomi, who pounced on her and demanded to know how things had gone. Was Ruth to be married to Boaz or to the mysterious relative? The two women waited impatiently to see how the events would unfold. And so will we.