Life Lessons from the Book of RUTH

Ruth 2:21-23

And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men until they have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law.

It was a wise plan to stay with the crew of Boaz for her protection as well as the other benefits Boaz had granted. Naomi recognized the wickedness prevalent in the time of the judges. There would be those of the worst kind working among some of the harvest crews. They would be only too glad to take advantage of a young, unprotected, foreign woman. The end of the wheat harvest came in mid-June.

Ruth 3:1

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

We see Naomi’s unselfishness in this verse. She could have thought of her own comfort and welfare. She could have claimed the right of the kinsman-redeemer for herself. Ruth 1:13 seems to indicate that she still had a possibility of bearing children, but she surrendered that possibility to Ruth.

“Rest” – that is, in your own home with your own husband.

“Well with thee” – in the Old Testament seems to have to do with domestic well-being (Psalm 128).

Ruth 3:2-4

And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou was? Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshing floor. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet, and lay down: and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. (KJV)

One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. ² Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. ³ Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.” (Ruth 3:1-4 NLT)

The cutting and shocking of the grain had been completed, and the dried sheaves had been carried to the threshing floor.

The threshing floor was a hard, smooth, level, open area of exposed rock or hard-packed and rolled clay. Threshing floors were located on the down-wind side of the village and were carefully chosen for favorable exposure to the prevailing winds. Threshing to remove the grain from the straw and chaff was usually done by the treading of the hooves of cattle (Deuteronomy 25:4), but other means were sometimes used, such as iron-tooth threshing sledges (Isaiah 41:15; Amos 1:3) or the wheels of carts (Isaiah 28:28). The winnowing to separate the grain from the chaff was done by tossing the grain into the air with winnowing forks (Jeremiah 15:7 NIV) so that the wind or land breeze which came up for a few hours in the afternoon and early evening would blow away the chaff, leaving the heavier grain on the threshing floor (Psalm 1:4). Afterward, the grain would be carefully swept up and cleaned with a sieve to remove other foreign materials (Amos 9:9).

There was something timely about Naomi’s instructions.

• During the harvest there was no time to think of other matters. The precious year’s supply of grain must be gotten in at all costs. Now that the crop was harvested, land transactions could be made more easily and it was a time of general good feeling in the community.
• Boaz was staying overnight at the threshing floor – it was important to protect the grain from loss by careless handling or theft.

And now for Naomi’s instructions:

Boaz had always seen Ruth in her everyday work clothes in the hot, dusty fields. Now she is to bathe, apply a perfumed ointment and put on her best clothing. She is to go down to the threshing floor, but keep out of sight until everyone has gone to bed for the night, watching for where Boaz would lie down.

In those days, people slept in their ordinary daytime clothing He probably slept on the ground with some straw and a blanket or animal skin under him, and with his outer cloak spread over him. Ruth is to slip into the area, lift up the cloak by his feet, and lie down at his feet. And Naomi says, “the rest is up to him; he will tell you what to do.”

What do you think of these strange instructions?

Ruth 3:5-6

And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do. And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her.

Naomi’s instructions probably seemed strange to Ruth as well. She was a foreigner and not used to Israeli customs, but she was absolutely unquestioning and obedient.

It is never a good thing for us to judge the customs of others by our own native customs. Ruth had no father to make arrangements for her. Under the customs of the day, she could not go to the house of Boaz or approach him in public. This was probably the only opportunity she would have to get his attention privately.

Dear God, Thank You for putting people in my life who are wiser, smarter and more knowledgeable than I am. Help me to be gracious in hearing their advice, and humble enough to follow their wise counsel – especially that of those who are older than me. Amen.