Ruth works in the fields of Boaz from April through about the end of June. 🌾🌾🌾☀️

Ya gotta love wise old Naomi. She is biding her time for a reason. She knows that Boaz is her next of kin and kinsman redeemer. Incidentally, if anything had happened to her or Ruth, Boaz would also be their “Avenger of Blood.” And as Boaz is a picture of Christ, He is not only our Kinsman Redeemer but He is also our Avenger of Blood – which we don’t really talk about much because the post-postmodern world isn’t too keen on fire and brimstone. But back to Naomi…

Naomi knows better than to try to approach Boaz about redeeming property in the middle of harvest season. The man has more pressing business – like getting his crops harvested before they go bad in the fields. A wise woman knows not to pester a man when he’s focused on a project. So she waits. When the last of the barley is harvested AND threshed, that’s when Boaz can finally relax. It’s probably late April to early May. He has a few days before they begin the wheat harvest. He’s a happy man. The harvest is in and it’s a good one after years of famine. There is a HEAP of grain. And he and his crew have had a good meal. They camp out at the threshing floor to guard the grain from thieves. Naomi knows all of this.

She tells Ruth to wash and anoint herself and put on her best clothing before she goes to meet her redeemer. This is exactly what the Church does.

The uncovering of Boaz’s feet at the base of a heap of grain is a highly-charged, symbolic gesture. I’m just gonna be direct here. For a man to “uncover his feet” was a euphemism for taking his pants off. A “heap of wheat” in Song of Songs is how the lover describes his bride’s fertile torso. (It’s gettin’ a little steamy in here…😶‍🌫️😳) I don’t believe that Ruth and Boaz did anything sexual whatsoever. It was symbolic. But he totally understood the gesture once he woke up and started to put 2 and 2 together.

“And he said, “Who are you?” And she said, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your garment over your servant because you are a redeemer.”
‭‭Ruth‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Boaz asks, “Who are you?” because it’s the middle of the night and it’s nearly pitch dark. He can’t see who it is. When she asks him to “spread his garment over” her, Ruth is proposing marriage to Boaz. And he knows it and he understands all that is involved with it – which is:

1) the purchase of all the land that Mahlon would’ve inherited

2) fathering a child with Ruth who will not be counted as his but as Mahlon’s so that this child will inherit Mahlon’s wealth and be able to take care of Ruth in her old age.

Boaz is willing. But there is a nearer kinsman. We’ll get to him in just a sec.

For the moment, it’s just Boaz and Ruth under a starlit sky. (😍 sigh) ✨🌌

☝🏼😌 You’re projecting 20th century romanticism into the text. This is not a Hallmark romance. They’re not holding hands and cuddling under a shared blanket under the stars. There is nothing in the text that suggests this.

🙄 Really? You’re gonna ruin my moment with an icy bucket of hermeneutical procedure and a side of psychoanalysis?

☝🏼😌 Yes. You’re welcome.

😒

SIDE NOTE…

My study Bible pointed out that in the same place where Christ lay down (in death) so also the Church lays down with Him (in death through baptism and the crucified life).

For the sake of both their reputations, no one can know about this midnight meeting. They wake at the first pale light of dawn and Boaz sends her home with a gift of more barley.

Ruth debriefs Naomi on how the “date” went 🤭 and Naomi says, “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won’t rest until he has settled things today.” Ruth‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Boaz was decisive. He didn’t sit around wondering, waiting for life to happen to him. He talked to people. He got stuff done. It’s probably why he was so successful.

Boaz goes to find this nearer kinsman then assembles the city counsel to witness the transactions that were about to take place.

Boaz explains the situation and at first the other kinsman is willing to step up – when it is only a matter of buying back property stuck in probate court. But when Ruth (the Moabite) is brought up, all bets are off.

This nearer kinsman is not named, but for the Church, that would be the Law of Moses.

“The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.” Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The other kinsman was not able to redeem Ruth. The real estate? Yes. Her? No.

Here’s a refresher on the Law concerning leverite marriages:

“If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel. “But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.’ The elders of the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!” Deuteronomy‬ ‭25‬:‭5‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Boaz publicly commits to redeem all that had belonged to Mr. Sickly (Mahlon) and to marry his widow, Ruth. The sandal (representing the responsibility) of the Law of Moses was handed over to Boaz, the picture of Christ, Who assumed responsibility for the Church to redeem her and all that belongs to her (which is the whole earth).

It’s interesting to me that there isn’t so much as a hint that Boaz was ever married. There’s no mention of children from a prior marriage. Had he ever been married? I wonder if his mother being a Canaanite (and former prostitute) was a deal-breaker when trying to arrange a marriage before. I wonder if that, as a picture of Christ, he was unmarried until Ruth because she is a prophetic picture of the Church.

Anyhoo…

The counsel gives an interesting blessing to Boaz, “may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Mazel tov. 🎊

Here we go again with the Judah-Tamar story. THAT was a story about raising up seed for a dead husband too. But if you recall from our Joshua 6 episode, Salma, Boaz’s father, was a descendant of Perez. It’s likely that many of the men in that circle could also claim Perez as their ancestor so maybe they’re hoping Boaz and Ruth will have as many descendants as Perez.

So Boaz marries Ruth and purchases back all her lost inheritance. It’s truly a rags-to-riches, princess story. 🥰 And I am SO here for those! Boaz is truly an admirable man and so tender with Ruth. 🥰 And Ruth, though she doesn’t speak much in the narrative, is kind and devoted and noble in spirit. What a happily ever after!! 🥰🥰🥰

The beautiful story of Ruth – which I feel I have NOT done justice to – ends with Naomi being a happy grandma 👵🏽 and the genealogy from Perez to King David.

Now, while this lovely couple – Boaz and Ruth 👩‍❤️‍👨 – has welcomed a special baby boy into their home, another couple just a little further north has been unable to have a child. And their story is next…