Ruth 3 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
The harvest season is over. At the end of the last lesson, Ruth “stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law” (Ruth 2:23). Naomi also knows by now that Boaz is “a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen” (Ruth 2:20).
This lesson covers a single night: it begins with Naomi’s words and ends just before dawn, when Ruth comes home carrying barley.
1Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
2Now isn’t Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor.
3Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor; but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall note the place where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will tell you what to do.”
5She said to her, “All that you say, I will do.”
6She went down to the threshing floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law told her.
7When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
8At midnight, the man was startled and turned himself; and behold, a woman lay at his feet.
9He said, “Who are you?” She answered, “I am Ruth your servant. Therefore spread the corner of your garment over your servant; for you are a near kinsman.”
10He said, “You are blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you didn’t follow young men, whether poor or rich.
11Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do to you all that you say; for all the city of my people knows that you are a worthy woman.
12Now it is true that I am a near kinsman. However, there is a kinsman nearer than I.
13Stay this night, and in the morning, if he will perform for you the part of a kinsman, good. Let him do the kinsman’s duty. But if he will not do the duty of a kinsman for you, then I will do the duty of a kinsman for you, as the LORD lives. Lie down until the morning.”
14She lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
15He said, “Bring the mantle that is on you, and hold it.” She held it; and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; then he went into the city.
16When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” She told her all that the man had done for her.
17She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley; for he said, ‘Don’t go empty to your mother-in-law.’”
18Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen; for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.”
Rest. After the harvest, Naomi says to Ruth, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?” (v. 1). In chapter 1 she had said to her two daughters-in-law, “May the LORD grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband” (Ruth 1:9). Now she is making plans for Ruth herself.
Naomi’s instructions. Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz “will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor” (v. 2), and tells her to “wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor” (v. 3); when Boaz lies down, “go in, uncover his feet, and lie down” (v. 4). Ruth answers with one sentence: “All that you say, I will do” (v. 5). The passage goes on: she “did everything that her mother-in-law told her” (v. 6).
Midnight. “At midnight, the man was startled and turned himself; and behold, a woman lay at his feet” (v. 8). He asks who she is (v. 9). Naomi had said Boaz “will tell you what to do” (v. 4), but it is Ruth who speaks first and makes a request: “spread the corner of your garment over your servant; for you are a near kinsman” (v. 9).
Boaz’s answer. Boaz first blesses her: “You are blessed by the LORD, my daughter” (v. 10). Then he says, “Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do to you all that you say” (v. 11). He says all the city knows “that you are a worthy woman” (v. 11). He does not hide a difficulty: “However, there is a kinsman nearer than I” (v. 12). He leaves the matter for the morning, and makes his promise “as the LORD lives” (v. 13).
Before dawn. Ruth “lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another” (v. 14). Boaz says, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor” (v. 14). He measures out “six measures of barley, and laid it on her” (v. 15). The passage records it this way and adds no comment.
Not empty. Ruth comes home and tells her mother-in-law “all that the man had done for her” (v. 16), and says that Boaz told her, “Don’t go empty to your mother-in-law” (v. 17).
Wait. The chapter ends with Naomi’s words: “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen; for the man will not rest until he has settled this today” (v. 18). Nothing is settled yet. In the next lesson, Boaz goes to the city gate.
On the threshing floor Ruth calls Boaz “a near kinsman” (v. 9), and Boaz speaks of doing “the duty of a kinsman for you” (v. 13). The law gave such a relative a responsibility: “If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold” (Lev 25:25).
This chapter does not explain what that duty includes in Ruth’s case. Only in chapter 4, at the city gate, does the passage spell it out step by step. For now, this lesson simply sets the term beside this law.
The passage tells this night very briefly, and does not put words into anyone’s heart. What it records is this: a mother-in-law making plans for her daughter-in-law’s future; a foreign woman doing as she was told and making a request; a man promising, as the LORD lives, to do his duty. And then, waiting.
Perhaps you are also waiting for something, having done all you can. Naomi did not say how it would surely turn out. She only said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen” (v. 18).
This week: Write down one thing you are waiting for. Next to it, write a sentence telling God what you are waiting for, and pray about it once a day this week.
Scripture: World English Bible.