Ruth’s Appeal to Boaz

BY Rebecca Faires

Everybody has awkward first dates. Right?  

Naomi set Ruth up on an incredibly intimate and awkward first date. First of all, she tells Ruth to go to the threshing floor. In the ancient world, the threshing floor was sometimes like the middle school bleachers. In fact, the threshing floor was often a place where folks went to make whoopee (Hosea 9:1).

But this was far from Naomi’s scheme for Ruth that night. Instead, it’s a plan to find Ruth’s kinsman redeemer (Ruth 2:20). Naomi wants to find a husband for Ruth; she wants Ruth to be at rest. Boaz was a good guy. He was a farmer. I imagine him with a weathered face and hands, and on this day he was winnowing. Winnowing meant “party time” because it’s the final step in separating the barley from the chaff. The harvest was finally ready, and he and his workers were having a well-earned celebration.

Boaz was a good boss. He worked with the harvesters, then ate and drank and celebrated with them. The boss doesn’t have to get his hands dirty, but great bosses aren’t too proud to serve when they are needed. Then he went to bed at a good hour, so that he was already asleep by midnight. He was all set to be ready for work again the next morning. 

Boaz lay out in the barley that night, not because he didn’t have a bed, but to guard his harvest and to be close to work tomorrow. Naomi sends Ruth to him. And when you put a man and a woman together alone in the dark, it’s a risk, right? But Naomi knew Boaz was sober-minded and Ruth was chaste. Naomi trusted that Boaz would tell Ruth what to do. 

Our dear Ruth creeps onto his farm, uncovers his feet and lies down on the hard ground, waiting for Boaz to wake up and acknowledge her. This date is completely terrifying! She could’ve easily doubted the whole thing, wondering, “What if Naomi was wrong? What if Boaz looks at me and recoils in horror? What if he rejects me?”

I imagine her lying there at his feet, watching the stars in their courses, listening to the wind in the barley, and awaiting either her doom or her redemption.

She calls to him, “I am Ruth, your servant….Take me under your wing” (Ruth 3:9). And that night Boaz sends her away no less chaste but much happier than when she came. He gives her the promise of marriage and protection.

We, too, are sometimes on the cold, hard ground of life, putting our reputation at risk, waiting for our redemption. Call out to your Redeemer, who waits to take you under His wing.