She went and lay down at his feet
1 Later Naomi talked to Ruth: “My daughter, is it not my duty to see you settled in a home where you will be well provided for?
2 And is not Boaz, who has treated you kindly with his maidservants, a close relative of ours? Tonight at the threshing floor, he will be winnowing barley.
3 So bathe and perfume yourself, then put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor. But don’t make yourself known to him till he has finished eating and drinking.
4 Take note of the place where he lies down to sleep. Then go, uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.”
5 Ruth answered, “I will do as you say.”
6 She went down to the threshing floor and did as her mother-in-law told her.
7 Feeling happy after eating and drinking, Boaz went to lie down at the end of the pile of grain. Ruth then approached quietly, turned back the covering of his feet and lay there.
8 At midnight the man awoke when he turned over and felt someone lying at his feet. He got up and was startled to find a woman there.
9 “Who are you?” he asked.
The answer came, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the corner of your cloak over me for you are a kinsman who has right of redemption over me.”
10 Boaz said, “May Yah weh bless you, my daughter! This kindness of yours now is even greater than that which you have shown earlier, for you have not gone after young men, rich or poor.
11 Have no fear, my daughter; I will do for you all that you ask, since all my townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
12 It is true that I am a close relative, but there is another still closer.
13 Stay here for the night. In the morning, if he wants to claim you – good! But if not – as surely as Yahweh lives – I will claim you myself. Lie here till morning.”
14 She lay at his feet till morning and got up before anyone could be recognized. For Boaz said, “It must not be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
15 Then turning to Ruth, Boaz said, “Hold out the mantle you are wearing.” She did so and he poured into it six measures of barley. He helped her lift the bundle, then went back to town.
16 Ruth returned home to her mother -in-law, who asked, “How did you fare, my daughter?” She told her every thing
17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley because, as he said, he did not want me to go back to my mo ther-in-law empty-handed.”
18 Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, till you learn what happens, for he will not rest until it is settled today.”
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Comments Ruth, Chapter 3
• 3.1 Why does Ruth want to have Boaz for her husband? In order to follow the so-called “Le vi rate” law, mentioned in chapter 38of Genesis.
When a man dies without leaving children, the sacred duty of his widow is to marry the nearest relative of her deceased husband. The first son she would bear him would take the name of the dead man and be considered his son.
This explains Ruth’s sacrifice. She gives up marrying a young man and accepts being the wife of an older and foreign man, because this can give her a son “for” her dead husband. Thus Ruth fulfills the mysterious plan of God who predestined her to be among Christ’s ancestors (see Mt 1:5).